Ardbeg 
Ardbeg now has its new still-house operational. It's very modern with a tilting window at the front to manage the internal temperature and also as a viewing platform.
The Ardbeg Feis Ile 2023 release is called Heavy Vapours because it was distilled without using the still purifier. This is a device at the top of the spirit still that encourages the heavier vapours to return to the base of the still for further distillation. Without it, the heaviest vapours end up being condensed into the final spirit and into the bottle. The Committee release is bottled at 50.2% and the public release at 46%.
Tours
Prior to the Feis week I had a quick tour of the new still-house. It has two wash stills at 18270ℓ each and two spirit stills at 16957ℓ each.
Later I attended the Cask Sampling event in dunnage warehouse No 3 with Emma. Dunnage warehouses are where the casks are stored on the ground
with one or two more casks on top but separated by lengths of wood. Other warehouses use a racking system with individual casks often stored
on pallets to permit mechanised warehouse management.
The samples on offer were:
- 4y Muscatel 60%, 2nd fill virgin American oak
- 13y PX 1st fill 58%
- 11y bourbon 1st fill Jim Beam 57% - this is the base for all Ardbeg
- 10y bourbon 2nd fill, 57%
The above selection of casks is used to create An Oa.
Purchases
Official Tasting Notes
- Colour - pale straw
- Nose - Smoke rises with a cloying sweetness. Intense, pungent and aromatic, a distinctive farmyard scent drifts, along with a crunchy aroma, like creosote or tarry rope. A splash of water disturbs the vapours and dark chocolate cream billows, laced with a ribbon of smoked artichoke.
- Palate - Ardbeg’s untamed darker flavors and notes have risen. A burst of bittersweetness surges, disturbing ashy coal dust and casting a haze of cardamom, peppermint and coffee grits. Clouds of dark chocolate and mentholic eucalyptus roll in, obscuring the fruit and floral notes usually found at the heart of Ardbeg. Wisps of aniseed twists, cinnamon balls and antiseptic lozenges float on the palate.
- Finish - The aftertaste lingers long and bold.