Archive for January, 2010
Ardbeg 10-Year
It’s hard to believe that just over a decade ago Ardbeg nearly closed for good. The whisky is so remarkable and so unique, and so emblematic of the image of an Islay whisky, it’s unbelievable that it came so close to disappearing for good in 1997. Yet, I suppose this is just another way in which it is emblematic of Islay whiskies – the island’s distilleries have historically struggled to keep their doors open, with several of the remaining distilleries suffering near-permanent closures, and one giant – Port Ellen – having permanently closed in 1983.
There are interesting parallels in telling the stories of two of Islay’s recent success stories, Ardbeg and Bruichladdich:
- Both weathered very serious downturns and closings in the 1990’s before being bought by new owners around the turn of the century. In the case of Bruichladdich they were purchased in 2001 by a group of partners spearheaded by Mark Reynier of Murray McDavid, and Ardbeg was purchased in 1997 by Glenmorangie.
- Bruichladdich had been closed for 5 years from 1995-2000. Ardbeg only went silent for one year, 1996, but from 1990-1996 had operated at only 33% of its capacity.
- After being purchased by their new owners, both distilleries required significant refurbishing before returning to full production (Glenmorangie invested £3.5 million rebuilding Ardbeg).
Yet, while their history is similar in these regards, their whisky couldn’t be more different. In contrast to Bruichladdich’s delicate, lightly-styled spirit, Ardbeg’s is an explosively smoky dram. Ardbeg is one of the big three, the peaty beasts that Islay is so famous for, along with Lagavulin and Laphroaig (Bowmore produces a pretty smoky whisky as well, but I don’t think they’re in the same league). But despite sharing a smoky profile, their whiskies are totally distinct from one another. Much of this is explained by the methods they use for producing their whisky. Here are some basic facts comparing the three:
1. PPM of the malt – how smoky the malt is before they use it to produce whisky:
- Ardbeg: 54ppm
- Laphroaig: 40-43ppm
- Lagavulin: 35-40ppm
2. PPM of the new make spirit – how much smoke from the malt is carried through into the final whisky:
- Laphroaig: 25ppm
- Ardbeg: 24-26ppm
- Lagavulin: 16-18ppm
3. Percent their spirit stills are filled to – the more full the stills are filled, the more pungent and full-bodied the final whisky will be:
- Lagavulin: 95%
- Ardbeg: 81%
- Laphroaig: unknown
There are other differences as well, in their fermentation schedules, when they make their cuts, et., but the end result, in Ardbeg’s case, is a profoundly smoky whisky that retains an almost delicate, subtleness. The degree they fill their stills to – 81% – plays a big role in this. While that’s still a high percentage, it’s low enough for the more pungent aromatics and flavors to be stripped out of the whisky, leaving the spirit in the glass more able to express the balanced combination of smoke and sweetness that is Ardbeg’s calling card.
Today, the Ardbeg distillery works 6 days a week, 24 hours a day, to produce right around a million liters of whisky a year, and nearly all of this goes into singe malt bottlings. 98% of their whisky is aged in Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey barrels, with the other 2% being sherry casks. All of the barrels they use are first or second fill. Curiously, while 100% of Ardbeg’s whisky is aged on Islay in their own warehouses, none of it is bottled on Islay at all, but is shipped to the mainland and bottled in West Lothian, in central Scotland.
One last note of interest about Ardbeg: they’re owned by Glenmorangie who purchased them in 1997 (Glenmorangie themselves were purchased by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) in 2005). Glenmorangie also owns the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, that venerable Scottish institution who buy single casks of whisky from distilleries and bottle them at cask strength for their members. The takeover took place in 2004 when Glenmorangie paid £2.2 million to gain a controlling interesting of the independent bottler whose products are available only to its members.
The Society’s board argued the merits of the decision by saying that the change in ownership would give them greater access to a wider range of whiskies, so that they could offer more and better whiskies to their members. Glenmorangie in turn looked at the purchase as allowing them to play a greater role in whisky education, enabling them to reach out to the Society’s 24,000 members worldwide.
I remember a great degree of initial skepticism when I heard about the deal, and couldn’t help but think that the ownership of an “independent” bottler by a major drinks conglomeration that also owned 3 distilleries (Glenmorangie, Ardbeg, and Glen Moray) couldn’t bode well for the future. But I’ve been a member of the Society for a few years now, and must say – especially as a member of the U.S. chapter – that I’ve seen the number of bottlings and number of distilleries represented consistently grow, and the quality of the membership continue to improve as well. So, while I’m sure the relationship between Glenmorangie and the Society is in some ways a curious one, I don’t see any outwardly ill effects from it.
But, on to the whisky! I haven’t had the Ardbeg 10-year in a long while, and was a little nervous given my recent disappointments with other smoky whiskies. My memory was of a singularly smoky dram, with just a hint of sugary sweetness to offset the smoke. This particular bottling was from 2007, and so is likely from the previous owners (the new owners began distilling again on June 25th of 1997, but only until October of that year before further repairs had to be made, and distilling did not resume until the following spring). It is bottled at 46% and is not chill-filtered.
The whisky is greeny gold in the glass. The nose is raw and smoky, with heather and simple syrup offsetting the smoke. All told, the nose is really equal parts smoky and sweet, and with time in the glass the sweetness grows, gaining depth. The palate opens up with charcoal and peat smoke, then unfolds with flavors of whipped cream and lemony sweetness. It’s lightly textured and soft, very drinkable. The finish is intriguing, with distant whiffs of smoke that just linger, like the remnants of last night’s fire in the hearth.
I wasn’t expecting Ardbeg 10 to be as complex as a I found it. My memory of it was as a much more one-dimensional whisky, smoky with the slightest bit of sweetness to offset it. Instead, I found a dram that had a layered, complex nose, and a palate that really opened up and developed with some time in the glass. The finish was a bit wanting, not as interesting as the nose or palate, but overall a very satisfying dram.
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