Ardbeg 10 Year Old

Tasting Notes

• Tasting Notes by Tim F

  • Nose

    Sweet peat, coal, Caramac bars, a faint floral soapy note, pepper and chilli.

  • Palate

    Very soft, mellow entry, then the spices and peat come through in a big way. Powerful, but with a balancing sweetness. Great length.

  • Finish

    Long and warming, with the smoke and pepper lasting longest.

  • Comment

    It's easy to see why this is so popular – spicy, sweet, and above all, smoky. A great dram, well balanced, and with a lot going on.

• Producer's Tasting Notes

  • Nose

    A burst of intense smoky fruit escapes into the atmosphere – peat infused with zesty lemon and lime, wrapped in waxy dark chocolate. Bold menthol and black pepper slice through the sweet smoke followed by tarry ropes and graphite. Savour the aroma of smoked fish and crispy bacon alongside green bell peppers, baked pineapple and pear juice. Add water and an oceanic minerality brings a breath of cool, briny sea spray. Waxed lemon and lime follows with coal tar soap, beeswax and herby pine woodlands. Toasted vanilla and sizzling cinnamon simmer with warm hazelnut and almond toffee.

  • Palate

    An explosion of crackling peat sets off millions of flavour explosions: peat effervesces with tangy lemon and lime juice, black pepper pops with sizzling cinnamon-spiced toffee. Then comes a wave of brine infused with smooth buttermilk, ripe bananas and currants. Smoke gradually wells up on the palate bringing a mouthful of warm creamy cappuccino and toasted marshmallows. As the taste lengthens and deepens, dry espresso, liquorice root and tarry smoke develop coating the palate with chewy peat oils.

  • Finish

    The finish goes on and on – long and smoky with tarry espresso, aniseed, toasted almonds and traces of soft barley and fresh pear.