Review by: The Muskox
This was my birthday pour in 2019 – I was lucky enough to live near one of the few bars in (presumably) the world that has this on the shelf and doesn’t charge $500 a glass. This is a 25-year-old Ardbeg, one of a series of releases from between 2001 and 2006, from 1970s distillate. Hoo boy.
Distillery: Ardbeg.
Bottler: Official bottling.
Region: Islay.
ABV: 46%.
Age: 25 years at least. Distilled in the 1970s. Bottled between 2001 and 2006 (not sure exactly which batch this is).
Cask type: Bourbon and sherry casks.
Price: N/A, bar pour. I think this was $50 CAD for an ounce.
Color: Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Nose: Loads of earthy Ardbeg smoke, more than expected. Seawater, rocks, leather, earth, and peat smoke. It just smells ancient. Musty earth, ink, seaweed, roasted peanuts, toasted sesame oil, and dried oregano. Crayons? There’s a surprising soft fruity side as well: Pineapple, dragonfruit, baked apples, pears, and strawberries. Just a hint of sherry. Sweet caramel and milk chocolate in the middle. With time in the glass an earthy malt/bread note emerged, along with more savoury flavours and black tea.
Palate: Medium-thick and quite oily. Soft and ancient. Citrus pith and red grapes, then sweet heathery peat, sea-salted caramel, and milk chocolate. The development is extremely extended. Some sherry emerges here, along with ash, oak, and loads of savoury dark notes that are all going on at once.
Some water helps clear things up. There’s a bit more ash now, along with tropical fruit flavours of pineapple, coconut, and papaya. There’s lots of dark chocolate, warm spices, and a strong tobacco note. Some barbequed meat appears here, with mixed peppercorns.
Finish: Long and rich, an extension of the development. Black pepper, nori, dried herbs (mustard seeds?), and black tea. Lots of wood sugars and earth, with a bit of soy sauce.
Water helped bring everything together. There’s blackberries, apples, and dark chocolate. More of that musty element.
Conclusion: It’s so, so, so complex. There’s so much depth, so much going on. I couldn’t do it justice in written form. At the same time, it’s so easy to drink. The peat is soft but with this understated intensity. The phrase “old-school” is thrown around a lot, but this is certainly an old-school peated whisky.
Is it the best whisky I’ve ever had? No, it’s not. I don’t know what it is exactly, maybe it was a bit too soft, maybe I wanted a bit more of that earthy element, maybe it was just my experience that day. I don’t know. The bottle was still about half-full, but if I didn’t know any better I’d say it had been sitting around a while.
Is it weird that I feel like I have to explain why this isn’t my favourite whisky ever? I can only ever record and share my own experience, and this time my experience wasn’t mind-blowing. Subjectivity giveth, and subjectivity taketh away, I guess.
It was still fucking delicious, though.
Final Score: 91.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 