Category Archives: Ardbeg
Ardbeg 16yo Airigh Nam Beist
Whisky: Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist 1990, 46%
± £50 ≈ R550
Pronounced Arry nam Baysht, meaning “shelter of the beast”, this 16yo from Ardbeg was released in 2007 after maturation in ex-bourbon casks. It was a limited release (replaced by Corryvreckan), so not easily found these days.
Nose: An elegant plume of heavy peat smoke and rubber. Lined with a vanilla ice-cream sweetness, salt and citrus. The peat is imposing and rich with lots of layers.
Taste: Soft and creamy in the mouth. Full, with more bite than the age and ABV suggests, but not brutishly so. Drying oak, biscuit and bacon. Very creamy indeed.
Finish: A pistachio nuttiness now along with the vanilla and resurfaced citrus. Cracked peppercorns. Hypnotising long and smoky.
My Score: 90
Not sure why, but I have a soft spot for this bottling. The whisky is brilliant stuff; saturated with varying flavours but presented in a coherent, and ubercreamy, peat-soaked splendidness. OK… I know why I have a soft spot for it! Ardbeg have since launched many other excellent whiskies, but if you haven’t tried the beast yet, you really must!
Other Scores: SV 91, JM’09 95
Ardbeg Rollercoaster NAS
Whisky: Ardbeg Rollercoaster NAS, 57.3%
£50 ≈ R550 (Excluding shipping)
This is a vatting of ten different casks from ten different years, 1997 to 2006, each contributing various proportions ranging from 5.4% to 14.2%. It was released earlier this year in February through the Ardbeg online store which experienced such traffic the site was crippled. For further details on this read about it on Whisky For Everyone’s blog here.
Nose: Whoa… like having your head shoved into a peat fire, awesome! Gorgeous bonfire smoke, a soft sweetness, salt and citrus. Lots going on, and all of it youthful and vibrant.
Taste: This is a powerful dram! A wonderful oiliness, but not overly viscous, wave upon wave of crisp popping peat smoke. Spicy after a few seconds with a tad dryness and an overarching subtly sweet backbone of dried pears and apples.
Finish: Back into the peat fire, this time with some heat from the flames. A touch of spice (cloves), more dryness, a little liquorice, and lots of medicinal notes.
My Score: 90
This is one hell of dram and testament that a young whisky can throw a seriously solid, heavy-weight slug. Yes, you can tell it’s young and brash, and for some, even peat lovers, this may be too much, but its hard to deny that this is an impressive accomplishment and a fantastic whisky.
Ardbeg 10yo
Whisky: Ardbeg 10, 46% ABV
R550 ≈ £48
Ardbeg is one of the peatiest whiskies available, and many would say one of the best – I tend to agree. Jim Murray (JM), the renowned, and sometimes controversial whisky writer and man behind the annual self-titled whisky bible, awarded the Ardbeg 10yo World Whisky of the Year 2008, the Uigeadail the same award in 2009, and the Supernova the same award this year in 2010. That’s best whisky in the world three years running from the same distillery, pretty impressive! Even if you don’t agree with JM’s scores, and perhaps you don’t think Ardbeg whiskies are THE best in the world, if you like peat you will indeed think them at least very good.
The 10yo is the only expression available in SA which is most unfortunate. The online Ardbeg store does ship to SA, but it will cost you an extra £40 (≈ R460) for shipping and duties. Ardbeg is generally more expensive in SA and abroad from what I’ve seen, but a quality product usually comes with a premium. That’s just good business.
Nose: A truly lovely clean, crisp peat-reek with a faint background of sea air. (I imagine this is what Islay smells like?)
Taste: Slightly oily but not too viscous. For such powerful and saturated peat it is beautifully controlled and exemplifies the specialty of Ardbeg’s whiskies. A touch of apple sweetness.
Finish: Smooth and powerful. Any sweetness fades fast and is replaced with smoke and iodine. Begs for more.
My Score: 88/100
I can understand why this is more expensive than other whiskies of the same age. In fact, if you like peat it will easily give most other 12yo to 15yo whiskies a solid beat-down. If you haven’t tried an Ardbeg yet, you are missing out on the magic that is peated whisky. Remarkable stuff.
Scores: MJ = 83/100, JM 09 = 94/100, MM = 80/100
