Ardbeg on Ardbeg Day
It has become a tradition for distilleries located on the island of Islay to prepare special editions of their whiskies for the upcoming Islay Festival of Music and Malt, known as Fèis Ìle for short and with Gaelic. And the tradition of the festival is that each day is dedicated to a different distillery, with the last day of the celebration falling to Ardbeg. This year Ardbeg Day will be held on Saturday, June 3. That's when a new edition of whisky from the distillery will be launched.
Ardbeg Heavy Vapours is the first whisky produced at Ardbeg without the use of an important piece of distillery equipment, namely without the use of a purifier (purifier), mounted on the arm of the second distillation alembic (spirit still). This element is intended to reflux the heaviest elements of the middle fraction and make the resulting distillate light and full of vegetal and fruity notes. Eliminating it during distillation was supposed to yield a heavier, oilier, complex distillate, enriched with the heaviest elements that would normally return to the main part of the alembic via the aforementioned purifier. How it turned out in practice, you will be able to find out soon by tasting the new whisky, Ardbeg Heavy Vapours.
Ardbeg Heavy Vapours is traditionally a beverage bottled without the cold filtration process and without the use of coloring caramel. The official messages that have appeared on industry portals mention a power of 46% vol., however, it cannot be ruled out that a cask strength version will also be available at the distillery and for Ardbeg Committee members. At least that was the case in previous years.
The new whisky, offered in a limited edition, is expected to offer accents of intense aromatic smoke and notes of sweetness in its bouquet, while on the palate we should find notes of coal dust, peppermint, cardamom, dark chocolate and eucalyptus.
The launch of the new whisky was preceded by an episode of a comic story, created for some time by Dolraj Mann, followed by ardent fans of the brand and its marketing message. In the cartoon story, we follow the fate of Agent 46, for whom the prototype is the head of the Ardbeg Visitor Center, most recently chairwoman of the Ardbeg Committee, Jackie Thomson. Her mission is to find the lost purifier in space, amid countless dangers, and restore harmony to Ardbeg distillate.
The new Ardbeg edition will soon be available through Ardbeg Embassies, online stores and specialty stationary aged liquor stores, including, naturally, the House of Whisky Online. Its retail price has been set at the equivalent of about £120.
Before Ardbeg Heavy Vapours arrives, fans of peaty smoke from the south coast of Islay are encouraged to take a look at the the extremely extensive Ardbeg range available from us today.
[04.04.2023 / photo: Ardbeg]