Description

Ardbeg 15 Year Old & Laphroaig 10 Year Old

Ardbeg 15 Year Old & Laphroaig 10 Year Old

• Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
• Distillery Bottling

100cl / 43%

A bottle that was sold by Allied in duty-free shops alongside a Laphroaig. Colour: pale gold. Nose: another one that’s quite discreet at first nosing. Maybe closer to the mash with quite some porridge, rubbed orange skin. Develops on eucalyptus leaves, lemon drops, a little camphor, wet dog this time again… Maybe it’s a little subdued but quite racy at the same time.

Notes of fresh almonds. Mouth: rather sweet and creamy, with one side that’s great (marzipan, olive oil, smokiness). But another side that’s a little weak and cardboardy, dusty, slightly caramelly. Yet, the background is there, firm and peaty, even a little medicinal, with a medium long but salty and waxy finish. You can’t compare this one to the best old 10yo’s but it’s still a very nice Ardbeg. Maybe a bridge between the old and the new styles. Ardbeg 15 Year Old & Laphroaig 10 Year Old

Furthermore, some extravagant new products (Serendipity, Ardbeg Mor, the 1965, the ‘gun case’) rather worked like repellents in our opinion. It is now to be wondered if under the new owners, Ardbeg will definitely lose its cult status among the fanatics, who believe that it’s themselves who decide on what’s really premium and what’s not and not London or Glasgow marketeers, or if it will be revived. Well, the answer may lie in the warehouses and in the owners’ ability to show a little restraint as far as pricing is concerned.

Now, what’s also true is that out of 184 Ardbegs we could score so far, exactly the half, that is to say 92 versions, reached 90 points or more, which is truly amazing.Yes we love Ardbeg. – November 4, 2007
June 28, 2009 update: a rare Ardbeg 1974 (36 bts only) fetched 8,114 Euros on whiskyauction. The Ardbeg mania goes on despite the recession. Other single casks go above 1,000 Euros.
What the pros had to say: “I have been visiting the Distillery for nearly 30 years – long before anybody had heard of Ardbeg. And because I have long regarded this the finest Distillery in the world, I actually try to handicap the sample to iron out any natural bias.