My Scotch Whisky Shelf - Ardbeg 10 Year review

I find it hard to select a single whisky to call my ‘favourite’ as they all have different things going for them. That said though if you take the high end whiskies out of the equation, I would say all in all Ardbeg 10 year old is as close to favourite that I have at the moment. In pretty much any situation whether it’s after a meal or if you’ve got a few friends over and are having a few drams, Ardbeg always works for me. I had avoided getting a bottle for quite a while as it is at a slightly higher price than your average whisky, but when coming from holiday I saw a litre bottle for £35 ($50) at the airport. I couldn’t resist and I haven’t looked back since.

Here’s my review.

Region: Islay

ABV: 46%

Price range - $40-$60

Color

Very light, a pale straw yellow.

Nose

Extremely clean, peaty and smoky, medicine with a nice hint of sea salt.

Body

Powerful and thick, but lighter than some of the Islay big hitters.

Palate

This is actually quite a young whisky but has a really refined flavour. The first thing you get is peat, not the heavy peat of a Laphroaig, but a sophisticated hit, closer to Talisker than Lagavulin. Then the intensity hits you and the flavour really develops. I find Ardbeg really salty and seaweedy, but with a nice sweetness a hint of vanilla.

Finish

Really long finish, peaty and smoky. Eventually the smoke fades and you have a strangely nice medicine peaty finish.

I really love this whisky, it’s a great value Islay whisky, slightly more expensive than some but it really punches above its weight. This is my go to whisky and can be enjoyed in any situation.

Total score 95

I hope you've enjoyed this review, it's my first on hubpages. As always i'd be keen to hear what your favorites are.

Ardbeg is found to the East of Lagavulin and Laphroaig distilleries on the Islay south coast. It is known for being one of the most peated single malts around. The Uigeadail and Supernova bottlings are right at the top of the palatable peat levels at more than 100 ppm or Phenol parts-per-million. The water for Ardbeg whisky travels a great distance, starting at Loch Uigeadail, the highest loch in the hills of Islay. The water flows through the hard quartzite of the Ardilistry River into Loch Iarnan. This water finally flows through some heavy peat bogs on it's final journey to the distillery. Like nearly all Islay distilleries, its malted barley comes from the maltings at Port Ellen. At one time Ardbeg used its own kiln-fired maltings, unusual as there was no fan in the roof, allowing a heavy, tarry peat smoke. This added greatly to to the peat character in the water used. Ardbeg stopped using the maltings in 1977, so any Ardbeg put into cask before the late 1970s still demonstrates that characteristic tarry smoke flavour and is highly desirable.