Widely available

Highly recommended

For the details…

I have a love-hate relationship with Ardbeg. On the one hand, the distillery’s cult status annoys me, the association with stablemate Glenmorangie annoys me, and the gimmicky committee bottlings simultaneously entice and…you guessed it…annoy me. I also went through an odd phase of buying bottles of Ardbeg and generally rating anything that I tasted fairly highly while generally thinking of the make as being one-dimensional and obnoxiously sooty. That said, the whisky tends to be fantastic. I’ve missed out on most of the recent special releases, but the core range and the older special bottlings I’ve had have been uniformly excellent. And despite a greater sentimental affinity for both of its South Shore neighbors, Lagavulin and Laphroaig, the truth is, I probably prefer Ardbeg to both, and it is certainly one of my top 10 distilleries in Scotland.  

The distillery was founded in 1815 by the MacDougal family and, with the advent of blending, was successful due to the demands for smoky whisky to balance blends. It chugged along for most of the 19th century, but struggled during the early years of the 20th century as war and economic downturn hurt the market for blends. During the 1960s and 70s, the distillery was owned by a consortium of the now defunct Hiram Walker and DCL. Its maltings were finally closed in the mid 70s and Ardbeg began sourcing from the Port Ellen maltings, as most distilleries on Islay do. In 1979, Hiram Walker bought out DCL’s stake in the facility. However, with the “whisky loch” of the 80s, the distillery was mothballed between 1981-1989, when new owner Allied, which had acquired the Hiram Walker portfolio, briefly restarted production. The distillery was closed yet again in 1996 before finally being acquired by Glenmorangie, who finally began promoting its produce as a mainline malt.

Under Glenmorangie’s ownership, Ardbeg has thrived, attracting a (frankly rather irritating) cult following and becoming a prominent malt brand. One of its chief selling points vis a vis its South Shore rivals is preference for fully natural–or at least unchillfiltered–presentations bottled at a minimum 46% abv. The flagship 10 year old, including the iteration reviewed here, is no exception, given the whisky that little extra oomph and intensity. It’s an excellent whisky from start to finish–smoky, maritime, and it even sneaks some intriguing citrus notes into the mix–and I’ve found it to be one of those Scotches you just keep replacing, year in and year out.

Nose: Richly smoky with some maritime character. Alderwood smoked salmon, smoked trout in oil, iodine and gauze. The heavy smoke is balanced by light citrus notes, especially lime zest and fresh pink grapefruit. A bit oily.

Body:  Medium, with a slightly sandy texture.

Palate: Big, with a huge hit of smoke, creosote and tarred rope. A touch of brine, and again, alderwood smoked salmon. Low tide. Becoming sweeter with hints of semi-sweet chocolate and apricot nectar.

Finish: Long with hints of charcoal, dark chocolate and finally, pipe tobacco.

Score: 93/100

Who should buy it?: This is definitely a buy, unless you absolutely loathe peat smoke. 

Overall thoughts: It’s really hard to argue with this. A reasonably-priced (all things considered), age statement whisky, unchillfiltered and in my experience–and I don’t seem to be alone in this–of relentlessly high quality. If you have to pick just one widely and regularly available peated Scotch to keep around, this is probably going to be your best bang for your buck.

Bottling Information:

Expression: Ardbeg 10 YO 46% abv

Bottler: Proprietor

Range: Core

Bottle Code: L2387303 004204 13/08/2020

Presentation: Unchillfiltered

Details: Unknown

Price: $50-65

Availability: Any specialty retailer will carry it, and you might find it at a supermarket or big box store, too. You can certainly find it at Total Wine and of course at Whisky Exchange, Hard to find Whisky and Fine Drams.

Distillery Information:

Region: Islay

Location: Port Ellen, South Coast of Islay

Geography: Coastal

Date Founded: 1815

Owner: Glenmorangie Plc (Louis Vuitton-Moet & Hennessy) 

Website: https://www.ardbeg.com/en-US/

Capacity: 1,100,000

Plant Summary: MASH TUN: Semi-Lauter; WASHBACKS: 6 Wood; STILLS: 2; HEAT SOURCE: Steam kettles and coils; CONDENSER: Shell and Tube

Total expressions sampled: 7

Overall distillery score: S