Ardbeg 1974 22 Year Old Gordon & Macphail

Ardbeg 21 Year Old

It's seven in the morning here in Islay. The sun refuses to rise. It's been spitting for the last 24 hours. The wind is auditioning to be in an Alfred Hitchcock thriller. And I still can't get the taste of the Ardbeg 21 out of my mouth. It took me three flight connections, an overnighter in Glasgow and a bumpy plane to Islay to make this impromptu...

Score 92/100

Ardbeg 10 Year Old

Ardbeg 10. Not much intro needed so let's get into it. Nose: Peat, Dish Soap, Lime, Salt, Creamed Corn Palate: Big Peat, Sweet Smoke, Fairly Smooth and Oily, Orange Marmalade, Pepper Jack Cheese Finish: Shorter than I expected. Peat, Orange Zest, Charcoal I liked it. I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoy Caol Ila 12, Lagavulin 12 or Lagavulin 16,...

Score 83/100

Ardbeg Supernova

The nose is gentler than you would expect from something labelled 'the peatiest Ardbeg ever!' Sure, the peat and smoke is the dominant feature, and its very meaty, but there is a freshness there as well, like recently cut green grass. A hint of spice to keep you interested with perhaps a just the tiniest smidge of toffee. Much more intriguing than...

Score 90/100

Ardbeg SMWS 33.109

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, SMWS for short, bottled this Ardbeg at the age of 11 years in 2011. It came from a refill sherry cask and is their 109th bottling from this distillery already. The whisky is nicknamed ‘Delightful Intensity of Sherry and Smoke’. Let us see if it can live up to that. Wow, what a strong nose! The first thing that...

Score 91/100