Ardbeg Provenance – 3,5 times better than ’77 ?

[Jan]

Hi All,

Need a little advice…

Next weekend I’m attending the danish whisky fair.

Apart from the samples available at the various stands, there also is a “exclusive” bar as part of the fair.

And they, (among other fine drams) have Ardbeg Provenance on offer.

As I have understood it, this is one of the finest Ardbegs ever bottled, damn near the stuff of legend.
And this will probably be one of the few chances I will ever get to sample this dram.

But the price for 2cl is DKK 250 ($40,5 / £23,2 / €33,33)

While perhaps not unreasonable, it’s still quite a sum for one dram.

Especially as another dram on offer is the Ardbeg 1977, which I have never tasted either. (And this is priced at DKK 70,- / $11,3)

So I ask you: Is the Provenance really that good and that much better than the ’77?

And what would you choose?

Thanks
Jan

[Aidan]

I'd say go for it. You might regret not having tried it later on.

[adogranonthepitch]

The proveneance is worth every penny or krona or euro. it is the best whisky i have had in my life.

[jimidrammer]

Try it for all of us that can't get it. I'm still kicking myself for passing on 3 bottles of it because of price that are all long gone now.

[WhiskyHill]

They are both stellar drams. I'd encourage you to try both if you can afford it. One doesn't often see Provenance in bars. I recall hitting the bar in the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre in September of 2000. They had a bottle of it available for 10 pounds a dram (9 pounds if you bought a 1 year membership). Our party pounded on that poor little bottle. SpiritOFIslay stopped in there a few months later and remarked that it had gone up to 20 pounds a dram!

Both the Provenance and the 1977 won't be around much longer (at least at affordable prices) due to the popularity of Ardbeg increasing almost exponentially. Any cask strength 1970's Ardbeg that you can find these days is $300/bottle or more. At around $100 or so (if you can find a bottle) the 1977 at 46% is a real bargain. Buy every bottle that you can find.

(Ahem). I hereby declare an "Extinction FoaF" (PLOWED lingo) on the 1977 Ardbeg.

[Mr Ellen]

But the price for 2cl is DKK 250 ($40,5 / £23,2 / €33,33)

While perhaps not unreasonable, it’s still quite a sum for one dram.

Jan

Hello Jan,

That is actually a good price.
This is what you have to pay for 1cl at the famous Akkurat in Stockholm:
£24.90 / USD43.60 / EUR36.15 / DKK270.50

So I definitely think you should go for it. Next time you will have the opportunity to taste that whisky it will probably be even more expensive.

Enjoy the Fair..

Cheers
_________________________
Anders

[Scotchio]

You've got to go for both and tell us if you think the price is justified.

[Scotchio]

The proveneance is worth every penny or krona or euro. it is the best whisky i have had in my life.

Worth the entrance fee then? What makes it so and what would you say runs it close if anything.
And send us a sample if it's still open. I believe a second opinion is crucial here simply as a means of verification.

[adogranonthepitch]

dear scotchio

looks like I will have to send you a sample....

please send me your address again...

you know my private email address!

christopher

[Paul A Jellis]

For me Provenance is one of the best, if not the best, whisky I have ever tasted. I love the 77 as well, but, for me, a close second to Provenance was the Lord of the Isles which I happily paid £11 a shot for a couple of years a ago.

Cheers

Paul

[Spirit of Islay]

As Tom (Whiskyhill) said i paid £20 for a shot of the Provenance at The Heritage Centre , I was a bit like you , wondering if it was worth it .........until the nectar of the gods passed my lips !
It's a wonderful Dram , the best Ardbeg i've ever had (and i've had one or two !!!!) , 1974 is my favourite Ardbeg year , I've had two of the Provenances (the UK and the US versions ) and they're both superb .
Luckily i've still got an untouched UK one in the cupboard so i've got something for the future .
I would personally say the next best Ardbeg i've tried after that was the Allied "Guaranteed 10 year Old" , a lovely medicinal Beg (very similar in style to the VOA) .
Slainté
Gordon

[Jan]

I'd say go for it. You might regret not having tried it later on.

Yeah, You're probably right.

They are both stellar drams. I'd encourage you to try both if you can afford it.

I can, but I think I will choose not to. You see - I have a couple of other ardbegs planned as well, and this bar also offer the 35yo Dun Bheagan Springbank that Frodo has been raving about - I think I will have a taste of that instead.

That is actually a good price.
This is what you have to pay for 1cl at the famous Akkurat in Stockholm:
£24.90 / USD43.60 / EUR36.15 / DKK270.50

Yeah, it seems so. I'm not really complaining about the price - but is on the other hand aware that I'm paying for the rarity of the dram here. But this seems to be one of the few cases where the quality of the dram lives up to the hype...

For me Provenance is one of the best, if not the best, whisky I have ever tasted. I love the 77 as well, but, for me, a close second to Provenance was the Lord of the Isles which I happily paid £11 a shot for a couple of years a ago.

Ahh - I have tasted the LotI and I agree that this is good stuff. Fortunately for me, the LotI is one of the free samples offered at a stand. (Which does not make a lot of sense to me. But who am I to complain )

It's a wonderful Dram , the best Ardbeg i've ever had (and i've had one or two !!!!)

Yeah, Gordon, I have more than once drooled as I browsed your site
Looking forward to see if I agree with you on this. (As you seem more heavily into peat than I)

ALL, thank you for your comments & advice. I will of course follow the majority in true democratic fashion. (And thank you for telling me what I wanted to hear )

Cheers
Jan

[Deactivated Member]

I can't comment on the Provenance, never having tasted it, but I will say that your judgment as to whether it is worth it may have as much to do with what you think of DKK 250 as of the whisky itself. It is very hard to dissociate these two things, as Frodo will so eloquently attest. For some people, nothing could possibly be worth that much, and no matter how good the dram is, it turns out to be a letdown. My advice, if you choose to try it, is first of all to make sure the conditions for tasting this are optimal for you, and second, do your best to forget the price and judge the dram on its merits.

[Jan]

In my thinking very few drams, if any, is really worth that much based on the quality of the dram alone. But this particular one I perceive as more or less a part of whisky lore, one of the legendary bottlings, that will soon be lost. As with so many other things we in western hemisphere use our hard earned cash on, the experience is what we are really paying for.

Based on that I will cough up to taste this one, hopefully it will catapult immediately into my top 5 drams of all time - if not, no big deal. I will feel good about having tasted it and it will certainly earn me bragging rights at the next meeting in my whisky club

Cheers
Jan

[Deactivated Member]

I guess it does give you chance to taste the Provenance, but that really is quite expensive in my opinion.

Your price is €33.33 for 2 cl, which makes a 70 cl bottle €1,166.55
Almost double the going rate for a bottle!

Up to last year the Provenance was commanding a price of around €550 to €575 (I sold one myself for just under €550 and made a nice profit from my buying price earlier the same year).

This year they seem to be fetching €580 to €650

I didn't think the stands at whisky festivals were into marking the bottles up so much!
WH

[Jan]

I didn't think the stands at whisky festivals were into marking the bottles up so much!
WH

This is not a stand, but a bar selling drams of more or less rare malts, in addition to the free samples at the various stands.

And yes, it is expensive, but I can't be bothered buying a whole bottle right now

Cheers
Jan

[Deactivated Member]

Your price is €33.33 for 2 cl, which makes a 70 cl bottle €1,166.55. Almost double the going rate for a bottle!

I didn't think the stands at whisky festivals were into marking the bottles up so much!

Personally, I think there is a difference between whisky that a producer wants to sell you (samples should ideally be free) and sold-out whisky that is offered for the experience (OK to charge for samples). In most bars, I find that drams at 10% of the bottle price are the going rate. Some are more expensive (ripoff) and some are cheaper (whae-hey). At this rate, the Provenance quoted above looks pretty fair.