Ardbeg Distillery, Scotland     founded: 1815 | active
For more detailed mapping of the distilleries in the area from our whisky map page, use this link.

Imagine a peat fire with molasses thrown into it as the molasses ignites.. yeah? I tell you what that would strike fear into - the logs, hence petrified trees. And if none of that makes sense, why not imagine carmalised butternut, mothballs and French pizza crispbreads? On top of that, things get a bit sweet and nectarous in the form of cherry lips, cherries, raspberry and honey, whilst lillies and marzipan keep the fragrance sweet. There's a brief detour into the kitchen to get some hand soap, Calpol and nail varnish remover whilst a bit of sandalwood weaves in the aromatic and wooden parts of the story into a glorious whole.

Sweet and slightly savoury in the mouth, Morello cherries, burnt orange caramel and Starmix (after some Starmix). A used rubber (not that type) and the smell of tea tree oil moves things into confusing directions and it's difficult to know which path to take back, but whichever path you take, it'll no doubt be lined with sangria, salt, orange and grapefruit. Although it can be slightly fiery, the sweetness and a chunk of pure almond essence keep this controlled in the mouth.

As long as a bomb (?) ! A feisty siesta and things that make you go hmmmm. Slightly herby, moving towards mint humbugs when the aftertaste of something charcoaly hits you in the face with a slightly sour expression.

Bonus aftertaste video:

~£53 (70cl)

SMWS 33.122 Big, brooding, masculine and intense   |   http://www.smws.co.uk/whisky/33.122_Big,_broo

We've always scored out of 10 in our group (see number in red box, below), with scores regularly given across that spectrum. The value out of 100 below is adjusted to the scale most commonly used for whisky reviews, to allow for better comparison.

84 / 100