Ardbeg 25 year-old: Review

[@topshelfwhisky]

Anyone want to see a comparison review of all the older Ardbeg’s? This 25 vs the 23,22 and 21? Maybe the 19 as well.

[@justwhisky]

Yes yes yes yes yes

[@martinsmith3246]

Yes sir! Love your straight talk Mike. "Beautiful box. And mediocre whisky" got a laugh out of me.

[@ninetyZeven]

Ha - ha. Yes.

[@jackthepickledhound]

I could probably fit that into my busy schedule.

[@mikeb4437]

This vs LOTI would be interesting

[@tall3431]

Very honest review as always. It's great to see you not bump up a rating to validate the cost.

[@topshelfwhisky]

Thanks, we try to be objective. Dustin and I expected is Ardbeg to overpriced but just wait until this Sunday’s review. ☠️

[@jonadad]

Nice review here Mike & Dustin. I bought one of these on a pre-order before it was released and got it for "cheap" ($750usd). I love Ardbeg and have a ton of their releases, but amazingly enough I haven't yet opened this one. Wanted to hear all the reviews first. Still haven't gotten excited enough to open it. This is one of only a few bottles I own where I am in "collector mode" which is NOT what I do whisky for--lol.

[@topshelfwhisky]

You seem to be a big Ardbeg fan. It might be worth enjoying for that reason alone... I'm a Lagavulin fanboy, I will open every expression I buy. At least the first bottle 😉

[@jonadad]

I hear you Mike--gotta think about it. Hmmmm. Right there with you too on Lagavulin. Hey, I saw a review where you talked about a Laphroaig 40 you had. Did you ever open that? That's one bottle I do not have from Laphroaig. Curious if you've experienced that one. @@topshelfwhisky

[@correzzana1992]

Awesome video guys 😎 Gonna have an Ardbeg tasting this weekend and will try the 25 too, and even a single barrel manzanilla

[@topshelfwhisky]

I hope you guys have a great time. Sounds like an awesome party… I imagine that single barrel is cast strength?

[@WhiskyMystery]

Great to see this in an honest review. Hard for any whisky to taste that amount of $. But the core range just keeps winning.

[@topshelfdustin3060]

I still am a fan of the 10, but the rest of the core which actually now includes this 25 and the 19...they're not doing much for me. And the prices old uggie and covry sell for indicates a lot of fans aren't that thrilled with the current core offerings today either.

[@themaltedmancave9499]

Great Review guys! Can't believe after 25 years that it is still that smokey.

[@topshelfdustin3060]

You know the rule, the older the whisky the more peaty it gets.

[@themaltedmancave9499]

@@topshelfdustin3060 Hmm I have always heard and experienced the opposite. Can’t tell if you are being sarcastic

[@topshelfdustin3060]

@@themaltedmancave9499 as we covered not really. Though I guess maybe oak smoke comes in to offset some peat smoke loss. None the less that 23 we had today I think is every put as peaty or more so than the 10. Just in different ways and the 10 just has less other flavors. Or as others have said it, the peat gets more integrated into the other flavor. But i don't think it's going anywhere.

[@hman9488]

I know what you guys mean about not being the overly amazing. I can't help but say, that you need to try some early 70s ardbeg to really know what the apex ardbegs are all about. Whilst these 90s distillations are good, that's all they are, good. Great reviews boys 👌

[@topshelfwhisky]

I’ve heard that mentioned before. Still looking for that 70’s distillate.

[@TheBeardedDane]

Nice one there Guys 🔥 Had a dram of that one.. Been trying to get it ever since

[@topshelfwhisky]

This bottle proved difficult to source. With 6500 bottles released we expected more availability. Still, Dustin was successful.

[@topshelfdustin3060]

I'm still just confused as all get out on how these aren't easy to get. A reasonably large production and priced so far out of any normal or sane person's budget. This is the most expensive bottle of whisky I've ever bought, not by a lot but still...this is the most expensive bottle I have bought... The idea that over 6k bottles of this could sell at those prices this fast is beyond me.

[@TheBeardedDane]

@@topshelfdustin3060 true.. Also the Ardbeg distribution system is terrible.. Maybe a couple of 1000 Are gathering dust in some warehouse 😊

[@topshelfdustin3060]

@@TheBeardedDane i'm sure you're right

[@creoleviking8433]

Thanks guys you just saved me 1500 bucks.

[@jonadad]

Mike, I saw some old "Oogy" reviews you did (one with a guy named Billy it appears too). Mike or Dustin, have you acquired and gotten to know any of the 2003-2006 Uigeadail batches (or at least some batches from 2007-2009?)? If not, reason I ask is that it's amazing stuff for the money. I'm hard pressed to get better bang-for-buck Islay than say the Oogies from 2006-2009. The 2003-2004 are 2x the price or more (maybe because those were inaugural with reports saying that those years have 1970s juice in them). But if you do a head-to-head of the 03-04 vs good batches of the 06-09, the differences between them are not that much. Still some good batches from 2010-2013--but not as good and more hit-n-miss. After 2013 the Oogy goes downhill fast The older batch Oogies at cask strength ABV display an impressive level of richness and density. Mouthwatering and all-consuming--like similar to Laphroaig 32 but a notch just below. Clearly a bunch of older Ardbeg juic in them--even the later 2006-2009 bottles. Some of my fav. Islay bottles are ones where the high ABV goes straight into flavor density and oiliness---and NOT into alcohol burn. Alcohol burn for me in older whisky is a big problem--as I noted to you guys in a recent comment about how I modify the Caol Ila 35 to create a better dram . . . . .

[@topshelfdustin3060]

I first had uigeadail back in that 2007-2009 era. That was when I was getting into peat. I need to find a vintage bottle and go back, but I haven't taken the plunge to get an older bottling. There's no wonder why I was such an ardbeg fan boy back then and now almost forget they exist.

[@topshelfwhisky]

When I first starting buying Uigeadail it was a lot of the 09 bottings. I'm as familiar with Uggs and any whisky. I've purchased over 50 bottles. The old (06-09) would hit this spot that gave me a milk cholate bar filled with liquid smoke. That just weaved back and forth. I bet the 03-04 are quite the dram. I've seen a few on secondary sites for around 400, if I'm not mistaken.

[@jonadad]

Nice! You know them well then. The 2003-2004 including all costs shipping and such at UK/EU auctions currently will run $500-$600 (or more if there's a chase over some Italian batch). The 05-06-07 usually go for approx. half that, and if one is lucky you can get an 08-09 at auction for as low as 200. The 2010-13 batches can be had for $150 or so which is a sort-of minimum to get anything at UK/EU auctions due to the massive cost of shipping that's now in place. Basically $100 usd shipping minimum to get any single bottle from UK/EU auctions now. The only way to materially drop that is to get 3-4 bottles at every auction to spread out the cost. @@topshelfwhisky

[@jonadad]

Another thing I love about those older batches is the range of notes. Goes from the stickiest richest dark sweet fruits to choc. (as you noted) but then rolls in with the darkest boldest maritime notes of tarred dock materials, rubber wetsuits, seaweed/brine, engine oils and various fuels, etc. I've got the good batches of 06-09 scored at 92 points consistently. There are batches from 03-04 than can hit 93 points for me. @@topshelfwhisky

[@jonadad]

There's def. a good reason to be an Ardbeg fanboy when it comes to their older juices. Dustin, you had great reason to be the fanboy! 🙂 And yes, it's easy to stray from the fold amongst the noise of the marketing blitz and mediocre juices associated with that blitz. The newer stuff I still big-time dig are the young age statement stuff---the Arbeg 10 which was responsible for shocking me awake and sending me on the Islay journey is still my best bang-for-buck Scotch, the 5 which is another great value, and the Ardbeg 8 which is an awesome whisky for the money too, but just a notch less value than the 10 due to the higher cost by having to pay the stupid shipping costs to get it at auction in UK. I love the thick mouthfeel in the 8, really a high quality dram.@@topshelfdustin3060

[@mrturbo311]

thanks for reconfirming my hunch...this will be an Ardbeg that I skip

[@topshelfwhisky]

That’s what we are here for. 😉

[@cato451]

I just bought the 2022 release for a friend's retirement. Any better reaction to the 2022 release?

[@topshelfdustin3060]

Maybe check and see if Prime Whisky did a review on the 2022? He LOVED the first batch and I know he bought the second batch to compare. He's about the only person I can think of who might have kept up to offer an opinion on how they vary batch to batch.

[@cato451]

@@topshelfdustin3060 thanks!!

[@teddyballgame25]

Smokier than Scorch ?

[@topshelfwhisky]

Believe it

[@phatzwave4424]

I would never pay that kind of $$$$ for a non-cask strength new release from a working distillery. You guys want age and heavy peat that's actually worthy of the price? Port Ellen is there for you! Ardbeg? lol!

[@topshelfdustin3060]

Yeah we need to get around to some port ellen and brora reviews. That said you can't get those for anywhere close to this one's price. That said if you like Port Ellen, ultra aged Caol Ila's from IB's are a very similar profile and they can be half for a fraction of the price.

[@silverlochwhiskyreviews6157]

Glad I passed on it 😂 … more recent Ardbeg releases haven’t been worth chasing … 😒

[@topshelfwhisky]

Overpriced for sure. Ardbeg has been underwhelming for me in general.

[@topshelfdustin3060]

Ardbeg is pretty much always a big disappointing...but there's something about their distillate that i can't stop chasing after.

[@jonahartistdavis1858]

Silver Loch Whisky do you think I should buy the Dark Cove or Blaaak I have the Corryvrekken! Is it worth it? How do they compare ?

[@topshelfwhisky]

@@jonahartistdavis1858 Dark Cove has my vote… cask strength or 46%?

[@jonahartistdavis1858]

@@topshelfwhisky one of those I did not try it yet

[@ameliaday3630]

🐱👅