Tag: 10 years

Ardbeg TEN L7 46%

It’s Ardbeg Day today. Ardbeg Perpeteuum is being launched it honour of the day, but since I’ve already published tasting notes for that, I had to find something else. So here’s a ten year old bottled in 2007 (which is what L7 means, in case you want to check the batch number markings on your Ardbeg bottle).

ardbegday2015

Nose: Slate and bonfire. Dry leather. Over ripe banana. Sand. Water brings out yeast and maritime smokiness.

Palate: Bonfire, salty water and seashore. Something fruity behind it all. With water the fruit turns to unripe bananas.

Comments: The classic, and very, very good. 2007 is “old” Ardbeg. I need to get my hands on a recent ten years old to compare.

Glencadam 10 years 46%

burns-3Nose: Lemon, malt and sour jelly sweets. With water it aquires a vague herb garden feeling, it smells like herbs, but not of a specific type and not very intensly.

Palate: Malt and vanilla. Sour jelly sweets, again, green ones. It gets a little more woody with water, but the malt is dominating throughout.

Comments: Glencadam is marketed as “Rather Delicate” (™ even), and that’s quite fitting. A good example of a light highlander with very understated cask notes. And very nice it is, too, but perhaps a little boring in the long run.

Glenmorangie 10 years 40%

This is the old standard bottling of Glenmorangie, pre-LVMH.

Nose: Red currants and orange, vanilla and a light oaky perfume. No noticable evolution with water.

Palate: Sauna and fruit. A bit more spicy with water.

Comments: A perfectly decent entry level bottling. Easy to like and drink, and uncomplicated.

Eagle Rare 10 år Single Barrel 45 %

Nose: Dark chocolate, cardamum and oaky perfume. Water brings out citrus, especially orange, some lilacs and lemon curd. Somehow I end up thinking about old fashioned ladies’ soap.

Palate: Wet, warm wood (as in a wet sauna) with a vague rotting note (an old sauna, obviously). With water I get soap, citrus and perfume.

Comments: The nose is quite nice, though perhaps a bit too perfumey. On the palate I can choose between rotting wood without water and soap with water and my answer has to be “I’ll pass”. Not undrinkable, but teetering on the edge.

Thanks to Daniel for the sample.