Ardbeg 15 yo 1973 / 1989 Signatory #4902 46% vs Ardbeg 16 yo 1974 / 1991 SMWS 33.11 56%
Ardbeg 15 yo 1973 / 1989 Signatory #4902 46%
Hear, hear. Glorious whisky is glorious, even if watered down to 46%. And this Ardbeg is one of them. A particularly grizzled one, perhaps one or two steps removed from the coast but my lord what an avalanche of phenols. Deep tar and black grease. Open coal seams and deeply dug earth. Soot, inch thick, and petrochemicals in various stages of combustion. Billowing exhaust mixed with sea air and hot but well oiled engines. The peat on these old peaters is unbelievable. On the palate a salt tang appears, along with grimy sand scooped from the bottom of a muddy rock pool. Dried seaweed awash in a gurgling pit of phenols. That said, the whole is fairly straightforward. 90 pts or even 91!
Ardbeg 16 yo 1974 / 1991 SMWS 33.11 56%
Yes! Crystalline and immensely coastal. Fresh salt spray, waxed lemon rind, massing white smoke and white minerals aflame. Crisp seaweed, just harvested, wintergreen and litres of mentholated chest rub while breathing in a tank of diesel. Sharp, powerful, direct and high rez in every way. The very picture of seagoing perfection, a cherished fantasy of the Atlantic in a glass. Certainly not the most complex by definition but exactly the kind of whisky I enjoy most. 92 pts
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