Product description
In July 2022, Ardbeg set a new record for the most expensive cask of whisky sold – an anonymous buyer from Asia paid £16 million for an Ardbeg cask filled in November 1975.
The recently published Rare Whisky 101 report reveals that Ardbeg is now the second most collectible whisky in the UK. Here we present another rare whisky from the distillery, distilled in 1965 and aged in two casks (no. 3678 and 36790) for 39 years. The whisky is presented in a hand-crafted bottle (the glass contains sand from the Islay coast) resting in a glass display case made of museum glass. The bottles are unlabelled, but are secured with a "stealth mark" - encoded microparticles guarantee that none of the 261 bottles in the edition will ever be counterfeited. The set is completed by a 50ml sample bottle. (Official tasting note.)
Aroma : at the beginning, a breath of sea breeze carrying the scents of forest berries, blackberries and peaches, followed by chocolate with nuts and the sweetness of vanilla; these slowly give way to fragrant smoke and delicate notes of tar and oily peat.
A drop of water releases more sweet smoke, while hospital notes, tarred ropes, and salty air leave no doubt as to the drink's place of origin.
Still a lot of fruit, autumn blackberries, fruit jellies, chocolate-coated raisins and Christmas fruit cake, and in the background traces of resin and cigar smoke.
Taste : the first drops of whisky trigger huge emotions combined with shaking hands; at the beginning a wave of salty breeze and fish smoked with peat and heather smoke, but after a while the second wave brings the sweetness of dried fruits (raisins and sultanas), cherry cake and vanilla ice cream; vanilla fights for supremacy with peat, espresso and berries in a duel where each side is a winner.
Finish: long, with notes of blackcurrants, dark chocolate, dried fruit and sea salt.