Ardbeg 1998 SMWS 33.61 Youthfully massive
| Category | SINGLE MALT |
| Distillery | Ardbeg |
| Bottler | The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) |
| Bottling Series | - |
| Vintage | 1998 |
| Bottled Year | 2006 |
| Age | 7년 |
| Cask Type | First-fill Barrel |
| Cask Number | - |
| Bottles Released | - |
| ABV | 57.2% |
| Volume | 700 ml |
| Label | - |
| Country | Scotland |
| Region | Islay |
Flavor Profile
Tasting Notes
Colour
pale gold
air Nose
starts crisp and pure, although rather less ‘Ardbeg’ then earlier botlings. In a way, this could be mistaken for Caol Ila, not a bad thing, obviously. That means we find apple peelings, seaweed, whiffs of garden bonfire, then a little antiseptic, camphor, grapefruit and plain seawater. Almost forgot our bellowed whelks ;-). With water: things keep improving. More smoke, ‘a working kiln’, smoked fish, hessian… and all that jazz
restaurant Palate
rich, punchy, more Ardbeg, with an oily mouth feel. Peat smokiness, lemons, grapefruits, touches of salt, bitter grass and just a little aniseed and liquorice wood. I find this pretty excellent. More vanilla and light honey after one minute or two. With water: it’s funny how it gets both smokier and sweeter. Smoked vanilla cream? Smoked maple syrup? Also a little ‘green’ coffee
timer Finish
long, salty, very smoky, with notes of cider apples this time