Angus:
Ardbeg 25 yo 1993/2019 (55.5%, Single Malts Of Scotland ‘Director’s Special’ for the Whisky Show Old & Rare, refill hogshead, 175 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: very pure early 1990s Ardbeg initially. That is to say smouldering beach wood, tarry fishing nets, carbolic soap, wee flecks of iodine, sea salt, oysters, hessian, sheep wool, drying kelp and a wealth of vigorous seashore notes. Parts of it really even call back to a circa 1977 style of Ardbeg with these almost fatty tarry qualities. Rope, fishing wellies, brine, black olives and seawater mixed with sardine oil. Camphor, ash-rolled goat’s cheese and an increasingly farmy, slightly animalistic side. Pretty superb I’m afraid. With water: there’s real charm and elegance now. The medical complexities become accentuated and there’s TCP, ointments, antiseptic, herbal mouthwashes and gauze. Salted cod and soy sauce. Mouth: a little straighter and more direct here; we’re returning to the 1990s again. Notes of smoked plasticine, burning hay bales, salty canvas, tar liqueur, ointments, mercurochrome, more brine, crushed seashells, grilled limpets and smoked mussels. There’s even a rather textural paraffin and creosote side to it as well along with some hefty doses of crushed black pepper. With water: as on the nose it similarly becomes more complex, only here there’s also a velvety softness that accompanies that. A kind of jellied peat spooned out of the glass with sandalwood ash, bonfire smoke, BBQ sauce and smouldering rosemary branches. Finish: long, lightly leathery, gently ashy, very salty, peppery, briny and full of typical Ardbeg touches like tarry rope, shellfish, anchovy paste, some chopped herbs, lemon juice and - of course - peat. Comments: I hesitate to praise this whisky for obvious reasons, but I promise this is fantastic stuff. I really enjoy the way it ducks and dives between 1990s and 1970s characteristics, never settling or alighting in one place too long. It also keeps developing with water and time in a way which totally commands your attention and respect. It reminds me that it’s such a rare thing to fall in love with a new Ardbeg these days. A whisky riddled with pathos.
SGP: 477 - 92 points.