It has no age statement, but from what I understand, its matured for at least ten years in classic ex-bourbon barrels and “rare” — whatever that means — ex-Manzanilla casks (an extremely dry sherry).

Make sure to check out the two other Ardbegs I reviewed today: Blasda and Galileo.

Facts

Nose

Maybe a bit salty, but not so peaty at first. Cherries, plums, brown sugar and walnuts. A bit lemony. Tobacco, vanilla and marzipan.

Mouth

Surprisingly punchy on the palate. Smoke and ash. Very salty, the Manzanilla comes really through now. Walnuts, cherries and lemons, followed by pepper, burned caramel, licorice and wood polish. A bit of tobacco. Gets pretty bitter and oaky towards the end.

Finish

Long. Spicy and dry. Smoke, peat ash and lemon salts. Caramel.

Thoughts

Pretty wood driven, the spirit has not much to say. Maybe a bit too Ardbeg-unlike for the purists, but I like it!

Score: very good and highly recommended (89 / 100)

This 12 year old expression was matured in a mix of ex-bourbon barrels and some ex-Marsala casks from Sicily.

Facts

Nose

Sweet and creamy, but not that peaty for an Ardbeg. Hot chocolate with whipped cream. Pineapples, bananas and lemons. Pencil shavings. Hints of vanilla and popcorn.

Mouth

A bit all over the place. Peaty and zesty, but also dry and fruity. Peaches, tea leaves, pepper, lemons and apricots. A few walnuts, too.

Finish

Long, dry and spicy. Peat smoke with hints of fruits and salt.

Thoughts

The nose is great, but the palate is kinda weird. Not in a bad way, it’s just a bit inconsistent in my opinion. That said, I like the general sweetness of this expression, although I guess it’s a bit too sweet for the Ardbeg purists.

Score: good but not exceptional (86 / 100)

The first one for today is the Ardbeg Blasda, which is Gaelic for “sweet and delicious”. Only 8ppm (in the spirit), chill-filtered, bottled at 40% ABV… Well, it’s never a good thing to judge a whisky by its label, but this doesn’t sound really Ardbeg-like to me.

Facts

Nose

Light, very light indeed. Surprisingly some peat smoke and ash, very little but more than expected. Rather fruity with green apples, fresh lemons and some kiwis. Small hints of salty caramel and vanilla.

Mouth

A tad more smokey and ashy now, but not a lot. All the fruits are back plus some peaches and lemon zest.

Finish

Short and fruity. Pretty lemony with hints of peat smoke.

Thoughts

Yeah…not really sweet, but definitely not un-tasty. A decent enough dram for summer I guess, but nothing special in my books. I’m simply not a big fan of this lighter than usual style.

Score: average but worth a try (80 / 100)

First off, I am by no means a so-called “Ardbeg hater”. And while we are at it, let’s talk really quick about what that term is really supposed to mean. To me, it seems like this term is all too lightly thrown around by self-declared “Ardbeg followers” in the direction of everyone who does not follow the hype of every new release from Ardbeg. So let me get this straight: No, I am not the biggest Ardbeg fan who ever walked on this planet. But, this has nothing to do with me denying their capability of producing good and sometimes really good whisky. If they have always shown this capability in the more recent past is open for another debate. However I am just not a fan of the way how they are doing business with all those limited releases which do not have an age statement but therefore fancy names, lavish bottles and all that marketing mumbo jumbo. Why not put some stock aside so we can have someday in the distant future something like a 15 Years Old as part of the core range instead of just having a 10 Year Old and two NAS expressions like it is the case right now.

So in order “to keep making incredible whisky forever and ever” Ardbeg created the Perpetuum, which is Latin for “forever”. Which brings me directly to my next point. It is one thing, that their 200th Anniversary bottling is yet another NAS (how much would I have loved one with an age statement) but they didn’t even give us a lot of background information about it. All we really know is that they used some young cask but also some old casks, some of them ex-bourbon, some of them ex-sherry in order to “bottle Ardbeg’s past, present and future”. Can it get any more cryptic than this? I mean, give us a little more something to work with. How old were the oldest casks? And exactly what type of sherry ?

One last thing. This is quite a special occasion which demands for a special expression. So of course everyone’s expectations are really high, especially after all the build up. So don’t simply put the blame on the people who say that there expectations were more or less not met.

Facts

Ardbeg Perpetuum

Nose

Very gentle peat smoke combined with eucalyptus and smoked oysters. Hints of vanilla and citrus fruits in the back. Altogether rather light and simple and not all that fascinating.

Taste

Smooth as expected. Lots of sweet fruits with some lingering vanilla hints. It takes a moment until it gets a bit peaty and ashy. Now also some lightly sugared grapefruit and white pepper.

Finish

Rather long. Sweet and warming but finally a good portion of smoke as well. Again grapefruits. Traces of ash and pepper.

Overall

Where do I begin… OK firstly, the nose is just too simple and shallow. The taste is indeed better and more layered but not outstanding. The best part of this whisky is hands down the finish and I wish the rest would have been just as good. Moreover I am still not sure where the sherry has hidden itself. Altogether a pleasant and agreeable Ardbeg but honestly I am not really impressed. Seems to me more like an outlook on the future than a recollection of the past.

Score: 81 / 100

Sample provided by Moët Hennessy