Honestly, I don’t have all that much to add to this one beyond the tasting itself. This is a beautiful example of the old peat you just don’t come across today. Not coming from a sherry cask, this whisky if very different to the Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 1975 Ardbeg I reviewed here.
Photo Credit: thewhiskyexchange.com
Gordon and MacPhail Connoisseur’s Choice 1976 Ardbeg, Bottled 1999 (40% ABV)
Appearance: Pale gold, quick think legs.
Nose: Unmistakable wet and dirty Ardbeg peat and it’s unmitigated by age. None of the lemon you find in the newer Ardbegs, with ash, wet ground after a fire and some crushed grass. The cask contributed some honey and vanilla.
If you sniff the empty glass, you get some medicinal notes.
Palate: Surprising spice, A bitter peat without the sweetness you find today. There are notes of sweet honey, in an oily, full bodied and mouth coating whisky.
Linger: Peat, some cocoa, gentle oak and some slight lemon note.
Conclusion
Simple goodness from a bourbon cask with that old industrial revolution type smoke from that ancient style peat that you just don’t find in today’s crisper peat.
Tasted with the WMH crowd, Slainte, guys!