The Malt Affair: Michiel Wigman Masterclass tasting
Welcome Michiel and Jan to Singapore! We hope you’ve enjoyed our food and hospitality, and that you were never short of something to drink. Notes from the engaging Masterclass: Ardbeg … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
Ardbeg ‘Over 10 years old’ for Scoma by Cadenhead 58.5%
A gem from the Whiskyfair Limburg 2022. Note the unique label and font for this series. Needless to say, it is phenomenonally rare to see one open. Here we get … Continue reading
Ardbeg 26 yo 1993 The Islay Giants Quaich Bar 49% vs Bowmore 1989 / 2011 Malts of Scotland #11004 51.2%
Ardbeg 26 yo 1993 The Islay Giants Quaich Bar 49% This is classic maritime Ardbeg, pre LVMH, bracing and evocative. Its nose is joyfully seaswept with a crystal saline clarity, … Continue reading
Springbank 23 yo bottled Dec 1991 James MacArthur’s 53.7% vs Ardbeg 17 yo 1976 / 1993 Cadenhead 54.6%
Springbank 23 yo bottled Dec 1991 James MacArthur’s 53.7% On one hand it’s got the trappings of pristine Springbank, with salted lemons, sea breeze, crunching minerals, white smoke and drops … Continue reading
Ardbeg 29 yo 1967 / 1996 Kingsbury #923 52% vs Ardbeg 28 yo 1967 / 1995 Signatory #574 dark oloroso 53.2%
Ardbeg 29 yo 1967 / 1996 Kingsbury #923 52% This is a thick soup of flavour. Bags of richness next to mountains of smoking peat. Dry and tannic, and frankly … Continue reading
Ardbeg 25 yo Lord of the Isles 46% ~early 2000s vs Ardbeg Supernova Committee 2014 55%
Ardbeg 25 yo Lord of the Isles 46% ~early 2000s bottling A rightly lauded bottle. I remember when this was 800 sgd at the duty free. Ardbeg, style: classic, era: … Continue reading
Ardbeg 24 yo Cadenhead for Sestante 54.4% ~ attributed 1965
Ardbeg 24 yo Cadenhead for Sestante 54.4% ~ attributed 1965 This seems like the right day to have an old Sestante. A nose to make you sigh and check its … Continue reading
Ardbeg 25 yo 1975 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 702 bottles 50% vs Ardbeg 24 yo 1975 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 234 bottles 50%
Ardbeg 25 yo 1975 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 702 bottles 50% Firmly in the 70s Ardbeg style. A precise peat, bullets of oily earth, a thin blade of sodium … Continue reading
Ardbeg 21 yo 1992 / 2013 Hunter Laing Old Malt Cask 15th Anniv. 50.2% vs Ardbeg 21 yo 1993 / 2014 Mackillop’s Choice #1289 54.3%
So there’s going to be a new core range 19 yo Official Bottling? Ardbeg 21 yo 1992 / 2013 Hunter Laing Old Malt Cask 15th Anniv. 50.2% It’s a perfectly … Continue reading
Ardbeg 12 yo 80 proof, white label bottled for the French Market in 1966 vs Ardbeg 18 yo 1975 / 1993 Signatory #2461-2463 43%
Ardbeg 12 yo 80 proof, white label bottled for the French Market in 1966 Tarry and phenolic in a primordially pure and achingly beautiful way, streaked with jagged salinity and … Continue reading
Been off travelling, some good drinks too. 50s and 60s Bowmore, 60s Laphroaig, 60s Ardbeg, 60s Highland Park, 1972 Brora
Visiting some friends, and drinking some great old bottles. A pictorial record: Bowmore 1957 / 1990 Moon Import 40% Such elegance and nervous poise. I think of another … Continue reading
Ardbeg Provenance 2nd Release for the US 23 yo 1974 / 1998 54.7% vs Ardbeg Provenance 1st release 23 yo 1974 / 1997 55.6%
2 of 4 of the monumental Provenance series for Ardbeg. These are landmark whiskies. Ardbeg Provenance 2nd Release for the US 23 yo 1974 / 1998 54.7% This is Ardbeg … Continue reading
Ardbeg 27 yo 1973 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 282 bttls vs Ardbeg SMWS 33.12 1974 / 1991
The 1970s were phenomenal for Ardbeg. The quality of the whisky from those wondrous years simple cannot be overstated. And unlike neighbours up the road, Ardbeg’s 70s distillate is still … Continue reading
Ardbeg Twenty Something 23 yo 46.3% vs Ardbeg 14 yo 1994/2008 Cadenhead 58.3%
Brand new ‘groovy’ Ardbeg is out and I’m playing catch up with Twenty Something, which is really actually 23 years old… Ardbeg Twenty Something 23 yo 46.3% Pre notes conclusion: … Continue reading
Ardbeg 14 yo Cadenhead 80 proof vs Ardbeg 11 yo 1975/1986 Corti Brothers 86 proof
2 hard to find Ardbegs from the early 70s, so I suspect going to be very good, but just how good: Ardbeg 14 yo Cadenhead 80 proof A mini, though … Continue reading
Ardbeg 10 ~1975 vs Ardbeg 24 yo Cadenhead for Sestante ~1965
By now you must have heard that 2 illustrious figures in the whisky world have left us. Dr Jim Swan was a veritable fountain of knowledge and expertise and was … Continue reading
Ardbeg 21 yo 1992 #10065 Old Particular vs Ardbeg 23 yo 1991 #10274 Directors’ Cut
New Ardbegs at 20+ years exists but are fairly uncommon. And now that news on the new official 21 yo has done the media circuit, seems like a great time … Continue reading
Ardbeg 1975 43% vs Ardbeg 1972/2001 First Bottling Silver Seal 43%
This session proved to be a bit of a surprise. I had chosen these 2 because they were both pre-77 distillate, and produced during the period of semi joint ownership … Continue reading
Ardbeg 26 yo 1974 Douglas Laing OMC vs Ledaig 22 yo 1972 Lost Bottlings
So its been peat peat peat recently, why not continue? Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin are often compared to each other as the holy triumvirate in their peaty domain. Less appreciated … Continue reading
Ardbeg: A young special, a young standard and a young independent
This was more tiring that I thought it would be, this is a big big distillate, and 2 of them at least were big big whiskies. It is one thing … Continue reading
Ardbeg 10yo circa 1960s, 80 proof
Yes this is a rather old 10 year old, from about the 60s, before Ardbeg started using the distinctive stylized A in Ardbeg. That means this whisky has been in glass … Continue reading
Ardbeg Ardbog (2013) 52.1%
This would be my third entry on Ardbeg, so I’ll skip the talk on the ownership periods and the different nuances of those periods which has earned this illustrious distillery … Continue reading
Ardbeg ‘Airigh Nam Beist’
Not enough Ardbeg on this website methinks. Airigh Nam Beist is variously translated as lair of the beast, or shelter of the beast (romantic end) to just a middling pasture … Continue reading
Ardbeg 17 yo 1994, Cadenheads Cask Ends,
This will be an interesting post : ) Perhaps the most ‘cult’ of the big 3 on the Kildalton shore – good lord have you seen the auction prices on … Continue reading
whiskyrific 