Review by: The Muskox

Ardbeg seems to be in an interesting spot nowadays. Amid accusations of pointless NAS special releases, kitschy marketing, and declining quality, could the distillery be running on the reputation of its pre-closure distillate? The so-called Allied Era of Ardbeg lasted from 1989 to 1996, bookended by years of closure. The distillery was nearly cannibalized for parts to support Laphroaig next door! It was during this tumultuous period in the distillery’s history that the whisky that would make it into, for example, those legendary and award-winning batches of Uigeadail.

This bottling was kindly poured for me by a friend a couple weeks ago.

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Distillery: Ardbeg.

Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail.

Region: Islay.

ABV: 50%.

Age: 10 years. Distilled in 1990. Bottled in 2001.

Cask type: Cask #2766.

Price: N/A, no idea what my friend paid for this.

Color: Gold. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

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Nose: Surprisingly sweet and fruity! Peach, green apple, gooseberry, and lime, along with other sweet notes of cream soda, honey, turbinado sugar, torched smores, and slightly burnt caramel. There’s peat of course – earthy, farmy, slightly antiseptic, mud-puddle peat. Interesting subtler flavours of salted licorice, kalamata olives, and parmesan cheese.

Palate: Medium-light oily texture. Arrives mellow with sweet peach, melon, apples, plus tangy ginger and slightly earthy cocoa powder. Develops gently into earthy peat smoke, moss, cumin, black tea, and more of that cream soda.

Finish: Long and complex. There’s more lime and melon, along with some pineapple. Salt-speckled coconut husks and cocoa. That subtle cumin note deepens further to smoked chili peppers.

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Possible SMWS bottling name: “Hell’s melon baller”

Conclusion: Incredible stuff. It’s Ardbeg for sure, but it has a juiciness and sweetness to it that I don’t usually find in modern bottlings, or even most older bottlings for that matter. That lovely dark earthy Ardbeg peat is there to balance things out. I don’t think I have much more to say even, it’s just delicious.

Final Score: 91.

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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.