Ardbeg Lord of the Isles (located in Australia)

$2,750 AUD

46% 70 cl

Ardbeg Lord of the Isles appeared between 2001 and 2007 as a spectacular 25 year old (minimum age). It was drawn from casks laid down in 1976 and 1977 and so the later bottlings contained older whisky.

A healthy fill into the neck, complete with original elaborate presentation box and scroll, this now joins the ranks of the Ardbeg collectable classics and is starting to move up in price.

Tasting Notes:

Colour - Light Gold.

Nose - Deep, rich and sweet: the sweetness of chocolate, marzipan and cherries surrounds a deep and peaty centre revealing the warmth of leather and a heady oily characteristic. Beneath the oil, cocoa and a rich maltiness are discovered.
With water, the flavour spectrum is widened as both smoke and salt emerge from the sweet and peaty complexity giving woodsmoke, tarry rope and leather. Later, the delicacy of mandarin fruit is discovered, followed by hints of heather and lavender scent.

Taste - Powerfully peaty and chewing, with a luscious silky and oily mouth-feel balanced by a mouth-watering effect. The taste is initially sweet with vanilla and chocolate giving way rapidly to a crescendo of peat and cocoa.

Finish - Long and dry with chocolate malt and crushed peat resting satisfyingly on the palate. 

The box is slightly faded or of a lighter colour, hence the price reduction.

This product is located in Australia.  We also have this expression in the United Kingdom - see Ardbeg Lord of the Isles located in the United Kingdom.

 

Distillery

Ardbeg Distillery

The renaissance of Ardbeg is one of the most pleasing success stories of the Scotch whisky industry in recent times. Ardbeg had enjoyed a very buoyant existence in the 19th century, despite its relative remoteness, as noted by Alfred Barnard when he visited it in 1885. Ardbeg had been mothballed in 1981 and remained so until 1989 when it reopened but by then under the ownership of Allied Distillers. They closed it in 1996 and sold it the following year to Glenmorangie plc.  Things then started to happen with the opening of a visitors’ centre in 1998, some deft marketing (including the launch of the Ardbeg Committee in 2000) and the introduction of some imaginative NAS expressions under a captivating new label.

Ardbeg, like Glenmorangie, has continued to flourish under French ownership following the acquisition of both by LVMH in 2004.