Ardbeg 1974 26 Year Old Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask

Ardbeg Ar7 Elements of Islay

Specialty Drinks has launched its seventh batch of Ardbeg with this Ar7. This time it matured on a sherry cask, which is not something you see often. I heard through the grapevine that this is a vintage 2000 that matured on PX, which explains the color for a large part. The nose is wonderfully dirty (which is positive, by the way) on wet earth,...

Score 88/100

Ardbeg Corryvreckan

Last time I sipped Corryvreckan was summer 2010. That comes as a surprise (well, to me at least) as it is my second favorite Ardbeg trumped only by the Uigeadail. It is named after a dangerous whirlpool north of the island Islay and matured on French wine casks. Every batch is bottled at 57.1% ABV. The nose offers the classic Ardbeg traits, but...

Score 87/100

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 Dark Cove

Sometimes my friend @Nock asks me to help him pick up some new releases of Ardbeg and Laphroaig, because they are usually easier to get where I live than where he lives. I've been a little luke-warm on the special releases of Ardbeg recently, so my enthusiasm was not too high to hustle after the few bottles of Ardbeg Dark Cove which my county is...

Score 94/100