Ardbeg 10 Years Old

Style: Sweet, Smoky and Sophisticated

Rating: ☆☆ [Highly Recommended]

Nose:

Delicate lemon tart fuses with a beautiful body of peat smoke. Hint of dry hay, seaweed, orange confectionaries core with a zesty edge. Fruitiness embraced by a gentle, icy breeze. Subtle notes of smoked ham, ginger shreds, Maraschino cherry and liquorice root lurking at the back. Very nice.

Palate:

Liquorice and bonfire peat lacing onto a candied orange citrus core. Bright, perfumed lemon tone, iodine, seaside barbeque smoke surfaces in the middle. The tone drops in the second half, chocolate dust followed by a heavier dried dark cherries and liquorice root. All integrated nicely.

Finish:

More chocolate notes, barbeque smoke and a touch of peat embedded within. Cappuccino, lemon honey drops to finish.

Thoughts:

As we are in the hunt for special editions and fancy single casks with rare specs, but sometimes we forget that some excellent drops are available to us at incredible price all along. This Ardbeg 10 is a great example of that – Lively but graceful expression, elements in harmony, extraordinary balance between light and heavy notes (I have read online that Ardbeg Ten is exclusively matured in Bourbon casks, but personally I feel there is some sherry influence involved in this, hmmmmm...). Not a super 2 star whisky, as I cannot give extra points for its price-quality ratio, but the quality is definitely in that territory. My gratitude to whisky makers who produce quality drops at such an affordable price - Whisky should be consumed and appreciated, not for social class distinction.

[46% | Original Bottling | Non Chill Filtered | 2013 Bottled | General Release | **-]

Originally published on Instagram