A little background

Ardbeg – You will hear terms like ‘ WOW it’s smoky’ or ‘liquid ashtray’ or ‘holy moly’! But yes, Ardbeg can be polarising and as such, has a huge cult following. It is certainly not for beginners – and if you are a beginner and you drink it you may enjoy it, but you will enjoy it more with progression.

Ardbeg is coastal, it’s Islay and Dare I say it, Quintessential Islay style. Ardbeg Single Malts are super heavy drams, an institution and it has a core range. This is the first ‘age statement’ addition to their core range for 20 years! So it’s kind of a big deal, a really big deal. Ardbeg Traigh Bhan 19 years old is bottled at 92.4 proof and carries an MSRP of $300 USD.

(Tasted neat from a Halo Glass)

Color

Light Golden

Nose

Quintessential Ardbeg notes – Campfire, burning leaves, burning wood. Silky smell. Very syrupy and concentrated smell like a reduced sugar smell. Some dark chocolate, raw cacao, herbal notes, liquorice, Tarragon, some sarsaparilla and subtle white pepper. Very nice nose. Wet leather and bourbon barrel influence with Vanilla and coconut.

With Water:
The smoke subsides a bit with water making way for more fruit. Sickly sweetness comes through more with water like creamy sickly sweetness.

Super complex on the nose.

Palate

A robust whisky. The peat is surprisingly prominent for a 19 year old. Well integrated peat profile, fruity notes, damp leather, damp cloth, firewood shed smell. Fungal and earthiness, savoury with a blue cheese funk. Grapefruit pith, citrus. Very complex! Dutch liquorice. Leaf litter too.

With water:
Dramatic change. More rubber, fresh rubber smouldering rubber, campfire. With water the peat comes through more, the burning smell comes through more. Salinity, minerality, herbal tones comes through more with water.

Finish

The finish is long. There is a heat to it on the finish like a Jalapeno pepper. Pine resin, oily as a hipsters beard! The oil lingers, the smoke lingers, everything lingers. This is not something you rush. It is big, powerful and a mouthful.

In conclusion

Really puts a new take on ‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning’

It is not something you rush – take your time. Look at my palate notes if you want to add water. You can progress or just choose one – I always say try both.

The marketing of Ardbeg Traigh Bhan 19 years old was wild. It wasn’t announced until 3 weeks prior to its release and the Ardbeg fans went nuts! Stores are selling it cases at a time as collectors hope to make a profit in the years to come. Each year there is a different combination of barrels and serial numbers so it’s very collectible.

I commented on the peat strength after 19 years because over time, peat phenols and profile subsides and mellows out the longer it is in the barrel and the peat on this is super heavy so the PPM (parts per million) of phenols must have been incredibly robust!

When enjoying Ardbeg Traigh Bhan 19 years old I would suggest starting with a softer whisky and finishing on this. Or, simply enjoy one to two drams of Traigh Bhan for the evening and go for something else as this will drown most other things.