Ardbeg 1972 (Douglas Laing OMC)

This is not the legendary Ardbeg 1972 ‘Ardbeggeddon’ for the Plowed society, but a similar release by Douglas Laing in their Old Malt Cask series, bottled a couple of months earlier in August 2001. It was finished in a sherry cask for six months before being bottled.

Ardbeg 29 yo 1972 (50%, Douglas Laing OMC 2001, sherry finish, 432 btl.)

Nose: marvellous, a great mix of gentle old peat, spearmint, asphalt and a Brora-esk farminess (stables) in the background, although this fades away. Constantly balancing between a fat (vanilla) creaminess and maritime sharpness. Tarry ropes and sweet seaweed. Smoked bacon. Some diesel. Very rich and classy, and certainly lifted by the sherry notes.

Mouth: a marriage of peat and sweet sherry again. Honey, some brown sugar and toast. Apples again. Then back to seaweed and saltwater. Hints of coal tar soap and sweet rubber. Candied liquorice. Lime and lemon candy, slowly fading to sugared grapefruit juice. Very subtle oak.

Finish: very long, smoky and slowly drying.

Wonderful whisky, like most Ardbeg 1972’s in fact. I swallowed the last drop more than half an hour ago and I’m still vividly enjoying the aftertaste. In stock at The Whisky Exchange, around € 1500.

Score: 94/100