The Islay Odyssey 2015 Day Six

February 9, 2015

The Islay Odyssey 2015
Bringing rare whiskies back to their birthplace to open them.

Day Six

Ardbeg

Ardbeg at night

On thursday we were at Ardbeg where, with Mickey Heads, we opened quite a few glories that we had brought, while Jackie and gang were serving the most delicious food on the island.

Ardbeg 27 yo 1972/2000 (50%, Douglas Laing, Old Malt Cask, 238 bottles)

Sukhinder’s Ardbeg 27 yo 1972/2000 (50%, Douglas Laing, Old Malt Cask, 238 bottles)

1972 was the year when the distillery was buying most of its malts from the mainland, before buying more and more from Port Ellen Maltings. Colour: gold. Nose: huge, immediate, full of tar, bandages and antiseptic. Riding an old Ducati Desmo in a long abandoned Michigan hospital. Mouth: absolutely terrific. Menthol, camphor, lemons, more bandages, iodine, ‘good’ rubber, more tar, even more tar, even more tar than that… Phew! Finish: extremely long, tarry, lemony, yet very clean… Epitomical, as they say. Comments: a fat boy for sure. One of the most medicinal, tarry and smoky Ardbegs. SGP:358 - 93 points.

Ardbeg 28 yo 1972/2001 (50%, Douglas Laing, Old Malt Cask, 186 bottles)

Hideo’s Ardbeg 28 yo 1972/2001 (50%, Douglas Laing, Old Malt Cask, 186 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: easier, more delicate, with a little white chocolate and crystallised oranges before the tarry, medicinal notes come out. But it does become very bandagey again over time. Less immediate than the 27 yo but they become very much alike after a good fifteen minutes. Mouth: a bit easier again, and yet it’s no easy whisky. Big, fat, with a little oranges this time, quinine, tarry liquorice… Full Ardbeg! Finish: long, with more salt and an earthy side. Orange drops. Comments: absolutely wonderful again. It started slower than the 27, but it did catch up. SGP:457 – 93 points.

Ardbeg 30 yo ‘Very Old’ (40%, OB, 1963 bottled 1993)

Hans D.’s Ardbeg 30 yo ‘Very Old’ (40%, OB, 1963 bottled 1993)

Unofficial data courtesy Geert B. Colour: gold. Nose: needs time after the two rather monstrous 1972s, but the delicacy in it and the subtle notes of smoked teas win us over. High-end lapsang souchong, pipe tobacco, pu-erh, a little marmalade and the subtlest earthiness. Mouth: a marvellous blend of lime tree tea, mint, rosemary, hawthorn, liquorice allsorts and ‘smoky bubblegum’ (for lack of better terms). All delicacy and elegance. Finish: relatively short, but so elegant…

Comments: an old lady that would have had a black belt in karate. As co-taster Sukhinder says, it’s getting better and better as we’re getting older. SGP:445 - 91 points.

Ardbeg 1974/1983 (59%, Duthie for Samaroli, 2400 bottles, sherry)

Diego’s Ardbeg 1974/1983 (59%, Duthie for Samaroli, 2400 bottles, sherry)

This is another ‘revisitation’ – we first wrote notes in 2005 - so we’ll be quick. Colour: dark gold. Nose: pungent, earthy, almost brutal. Barley and ashes. With water: not much changes. The years in glass do not seem to have tamed it. An unforgiving whisky. Mouth (neat): extremely rich, sharp, almost violent. It’s not easy to enjoy this wrestler without water. With water: even with water. The barley comes out. Rough smokiness. Finish: very long, but it’s the whisky that wins in the end. You brute! Comments: the darker side of old Ardbeg. Spectacular and excellent, but extremely rough and uncivilised. SGP:457 - 90 points.

Ardbeg 1885 (Alexander McDougall & Co.)

Ardbeg 10 yo 1885 (15 under proof, Alexander McDougall & Co. for Charles R. Haig) Most probably another fake. Sadly – I hate to write that – the whisky is good. It’s just contemporary, and tastes a bit like a late 1990s Macallan 12 plus a little peat. Distilled twenty years ago or so, bottled ten years ago or so. And matured in pretty good sherry. Oh let’s cut this short. With apologies. SGP:552 – 82 points. But beeerkkk!

There will be more rare Ardbeg soon on WF...