L3 170 10:10 4ML (bottled 6/19/03)   Ardbeg 10 yo, 46%

Nose: Mentholish peaty anaesthesia. There's something really spicy and hidden back there too, bacon fat, vicks, and a smoking fireplace (well, a peat stoked fire...) Ever been to Bowmore during the fall on a cold day when they're heating the houses with peat and peat smoke hangs over the town? That's what I'm talking about.

Palate: Dirty peat - almost neutral from a sweetness perspective. This dram is all peat all the time. And the type of peat I call dirty peat - no seaweed, no heather, no smoke - just peat and dirt. Which I like a lot. There's something sweet on the midpalate that tries desperately to come up from the depths but the dirty peat beats it back into the murky expanse every time. Excellent.

Finish: Dry finish with a little less dirt and some more complex sweeter malty flavors sneaking in from the edges. Peat falls off and finally allows that sweeter component to break through.

Conclusions: Fairly straight ahead young monster ardbeg.. the way I like 'em! Interesting since it has both the muscular structure of the younger bottlings with some evidence of older whiskys showing up late in the game on the finish. This is another good one that would work well for a snowshoeing expedition to the back 40 midwinter. You'd survive no matter what happened.

Ok, to wrap up this Ardbegfest, I'm going to taste the new 10 yo distilled after the distillery was reopened by Glenmo in 1997.

This bottle code is all over New England and if you start searching for A10 bottle codes I think you'll find this code most everywhere. It will be interesting to see what bottle codes Ryan has on the shelf tomorrow. I've noticed lately when I open the boxes to check the codes there are often fingerprints on the bottle already... and so it goes! Sorry for smudging your Ardbegs Ryan!

L7 295 13:39 4 ML (bottled 10/22/07)   Ardbeg 10 yo, 46%

Nose: Ahh, this is young in your face Ardbeg again. No messing around. Peat is more balanced than some of the other bottlings we tried tonight and seems to provide aspects of many of my favorite peat characterisics including smoke, dirt, seaweed and heather. Overlaid on a malty sweet base that has an edge of carmelly spiciness. Complex for such a young dram.

Palate: Wow - smoke predominates in the front with spicy astringency on the mid to back palate. Another huge dram where it's hard to tell where the palate ends and the finish begins. Again, more complex than I expected and I'm quite pleased.

Finish: Waves of smoke roll off the palate to provide a monster finish that just doesn't quit. Kind of leaves you with a sense of singed tasty malt at the end that makes you think you survived an extraordinary experience only due to dumb luck. Another Ardbeg where you're perfectly contented to sit there savoring the finish or having another. It's all good.

Conclusions: This is another bottle I wasn't too impressed with when I opened it back in early December but am blown away with today.

Let's try something else to baseline this dram - I pour a dram of the Renaisssance (Bottle Code L8 121 03:52 4ML - UK Release at 70 cl and 55.9%). Nose is amazingly similar even with the much higer proof. So we water it down to about 46%... and they're almost impossible to tell apart. The Ren has a slight bit more complexity on the nose but I wonder if this is psychological since I know which is which? Difference is that close. In a minute or 2 I'm getting a slightly spicier edge on the Ren now. Palates definitely share lots of similar characteristics although we're now getting citrus from the Ren where we're not on the A10 which is sticking close to it's peaty character. Although similar, the Ren is more complex and lighter than this A10 but you can clearly see that the malt characteristics are very similar. I just think they cherry picked casks for the Ren here and used the cast offs for the A10... I'm so grateful! The Ren pulls further away as it opens up and the Ardbeg strange attractor thing starts to kick in. I'm not worthy!

Bottom line - even though we're talking about finding older ardbegs using the bottle codes this new bottling is really good and stands up to these older A10 bottlings. The new Glenmo Ardbegs are worthy... Let's just hope they don't become ultra luxury items and are priced out of the reach of normal humans.