Ardbeg has been legally distilling whisky since 1815 and is situated just 2 miles up the coast from Lagavulin. The distillery was closed from 1981 until 1987 and was mothballed once again in 1996. In 1997 it was sold to Glenmorangie. In 2000 Ardbeg introduced the Ardbeg Committee a world wide forum for Ardbeg enthusiasts, apparently the group boasts over 30,000 members, including myself.
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Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig are all situated on the southern shores of Islay. When I first flew in there on a beautiful sunny October day in 2008, I had a strange feeling seeing the 3 of them dotting the coastline, my initial thought was a vision of flying into Waikiki the first time seeing Diamond head and Pearl harbour. When I flew into Waikiki and saw the landmarks I knew what they were, all because television; Wide World of Sports – as a kid I loved watching surfing, Hawaii five O, and of course Magnum P.I.. Now I know there are a lot of differences between the two locals, but as I’ve drank and studied these distilleries, when I first saw the Ardbeg distillery it was as if I’d been there before. Just seeing the first of them I knew which one was next and where to look, the feeling was incredible, I felt like a little kid at the amusement park. If it wasn’t for my cool, mature demeanor I would have started cheering aloud, well I was poking my traveling companion and pointing them all out with a big grin. Unfortunately I was unable to visit Ardbeg on that visit but I will be back, soon.
Ardbeg, like most of the others on Islay are known for there smoky, peaty, intense flavours. They have in recent years released some non and lightly peated malts although they don’t compare with their big boys.
When Glenmorangie bought the distillery they also bought all of the warehoused stocks, however they felt some years weren’t adequately represented so they scoured the whisky world and bought ever cask of Ardbeg they could find. They bought casks from Allied, Diageo and William Grant and have not sold any casks to independent bottlers since 1997.
Jim Murray awarded Ardbeg Uigedail “Whisky of the Year” with 97.5 points through his ranking system. I would not dispute this award at all as I am a big fan of Ardbeg and love the Uigidail, good choice Jim. In Jim Murray’s 2009 Whisky Bible he also ranks seven more Ardbegs with 96 points or more.
If you love big whisky then this is a good place to hang out for a while.
