Ardbeg Grooves - Ardbeg Day 2018 Single Malt Scotch Whisky
In stock
Ardbeg is harking back to the 1960s ‘Summer of Love’ with its latest Ardbeg Day limited release.
2018's Ardbeg Day whisky recalls the ‘Summer of Love’ 51 years ago with the annual release for Ardbeg Day on Saturday, 2 June, an annual celebration centred on the distillery’s open day during Fèis Ìle, the Islay Festival of Music and Malt.
For this year’s bottling, director of distilling, whisky creation and whisky stocks Dr Bill Lumsden has matured part of the whisky in re-toasted red wine casks. These casks were intensely charred to create heavy grooves in the surface of the wood, designed to produce more intense flavours of ‘smoked spices, distant bonfires and chilli-seasoned meats’.
Product Details
Tasting Notes
Colour
Berbere (African spice blend of a reddish/orange hue)
Nose
Intense smoked cinnamon and paprika fuse with antique leather and saddle soap. Classic Ardbeg notes of pine resin, tar and briny sea spray linger in the background, while a distant bonfire flickers by the shore. A savoury hint of chilli-seasoned meats adds intrigue. With water, lavender soap, white pepper and a bloom of floral-herbal notes—fresh flowers, coriander and mint—emerge.
Palate
A powerfully salty mouthfeel drifts into sweet vibes of treacle toffee, vanilla popcorn, salted fruits with soot and tar. Again, those distinctive savoury notes of smoky BBQ, paprika and mustard spice, fading into an unexpected haze of smoked pears and apples, almost like pear cider.
Finish
Smoked paprika and bonfires with a mellow sweetness throughout.