Ardbeg 10yo

[adogranonthepitch]

Is it me or has something happened to Ardbeg 10.

Just opened a bottle at it tastes rather young and brash.

Have previous Ardbeg 10yo's contained older stock - and therefore have amore mature taste to them?

If truth be told, its good, buy it isnt wow.

[EdipisReks]

the bottle i bought today is extremely smooth. maybe you have an off bottle?

[Scotchio]

The last one i opened (Jan 06) was incredibly toffeeish at 1st but just got better and better as time went on.

[Reggaeblues]

Seems whiskies can and do change between bottlings, and it always hurts if it's for the worse, and a personal favourite...or in the case of Ardbeg 10, a staple!

The last but one Lagavulin 16 i bought, was in an old mouldy box from an Indian deli in the shepherds bush Rd, at the "old " price of £29. It had almost no nose( compared to how I'd grown to love it) and was sweeter than usual. Still tasty. The last one, my mother procured for£18(!!) at "Cash and carry", and this was a little weak, a little bitter. JM reckons the 2006 batch was "back to its usual self..." so this probably was from the previous batch.(hence the price??)

the last Ardbeg 10 I opened at the beginning of last month, and I must say my reaction was not unlike our friend "adogranonthepitch." I thought "sh*t! I just bought 2 litres of this from duty free!"( For only £45 i might add...) but now the bottle has been open awhile it seems closer to its old self. Maybe Ardbeg reacts with air more than many...

I recently played in a bar that actually had an Ardbeg 10! The bottle had been open a while, I guess, and probably not visited that often in that cradle of culture that is rural Kent, but it was unusually sweet!

Try yours again in a day or three...and maybe after a "palate cleanser" of something cheap and nasty. It's bound to taste better!

[Deactivated Member]

I had a couple of drams last weekend - seemed as good as it ever did. Hopefully you just caught an off day. As suggested, give it another shot after a few days.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Is it me or has something happened to Ardbeg 10.

Just opened a bottle at it tastes rather young and brash.

Have previous Ardbeg 10yo's contained older stock - and therefore have amore mature taste to them?

If truth be told, its good, buy it isnt wow.

Leave it breath a week or so and go back to it then and if you feel the same then your probably right with you initial assesment. Remember it might just be you and how your feeling at the time too.

[Bulkington]

I had a Laphroaig 10 at a bar on Monday and couldn't get a whiff of peat out of it: just a lot of malty sweetness. Could that have been the effect of its coming from a long-open bottle? Granted, I've been suffering from allergies lately, which take the nose and thus a lot of flavor right out of scotch, but I'm okay now, and when I got home post-Laphroaig I poured myself a scotch that tasted just fine.

I recently played in a bar that actually had an Ardbeg 10! The bottle had been open a while, I guess, and probably not visited that often in that cradle of culture that is rural Kent, but it was unusually sweet!

[ckennedy]

hmm

I just bought my first bottle of Arbeg 10 yo after tasting it the other night! The one I had was smokie, peaty, and made me smack my lips!!

This bottle seems "very off" as well! I don't seem to have that smoke, peat taste running running afterwards!! Maybe it needs some air for a few weeks??

[Reggaeblues]

Hmmm. Air and whisky...

Last night playing in a bar I was offered 'the best they had' - a bushmills 10 YO. On first taste it was sickeningly sweet! Only then did I notice that the bottle had one of those stoppers with a spout...so that , as long as that bottle had been there, the contents had been "under attack" from the outside!

I told the barman it tasted worse than Sotheren comfort! He agreed, but before pouring the remains of the bottle(at least half) down the sink - and it had turned a murky dark brown colour NOT associated with this whiskey - he decided he would rebadge it as Southeren Comfort and sell it to the "drink anyfink" friday night crowd...

[Di Blasi]

Hmmm. Air and whisky...

Yup, as ckennedy mentions, air does in fact change and improve a whisky. I frequently open a new bottle, taste it and am disappointed til I again taste it weeks later after it's gotten that much needed air. Not the ever-changing air it gets from a pour spout, bad, but instead, that bit of air it gets from having less whisky in the bottle, and being a opened a few times. Good stuff!

[Di Blasi]

But anyway, back to the topic, I certainly hope Ardbeg hasn't changed, for the worse anyway!

[peergynt323]

I don't get all that much smoke/peat from Ardbeg TEN--more lemon, cream, fruit, spice, salt, light phenols...nothing like Laphroaig 10, which smells like cooked potting soil.

Then again, I've never smelled actual peat before. My dad told me about the potting soil thing so that's the comparison I use. Works well for Laphroaig and Lagavulin.

[Deactivated Member]

ckennedy, my first thought is that the context was different--what you ate, where you were, what time it was. These things change one's perception of a whisky more drastically than some may realize. Keep at that Ardbeg 10 and let us know if your perception changes.

[randall fairbrook]

ardbeg 10 yr islay single malt scotch whisky - 46% -

color: light straw

nose: smoke, apple, lemon,

mouthfeel: soft then a slow warmth..creeps all along the tongue

taste: smoke, peat, grass, not as peaceful and easy as the lagavulin 16 to me...but a lot of mineral going on there...the smoke tasted long after is so comforting

i didn't bother adding water..this has a long finish that keeps giving....long after drinking it makes the cheeks feel damned handsome.....

[Spirit of Islay]

Is it me ?

to be blunt , yes !





I shall pass your thoughts onto Jackie next friday.....

[kronkelkreeuw]

The last couple of Ardbeg 10yo bottles I've had were excessively buttery, loads of diacetyl on the nose. After letting the bottle breath for a few weeks it improved.

[Reggaeblues]

Yup, that's what mine do...improve once they're opened!

but pretty acceptable from first 'pop'