Ardbeg Cask Whisky Investment:
Ardbeg is a Anglicisation of the Scots’ Gaelic ‘”An Àird Bheag” which translates as The Old Headland (or Promontory) and the Ardbeg Distillery is known in Gaelic as Taigh-staile na h-Àirde Bige.
The Ardbeg story began in 1798 when Duncan McDougall, father of John and Alexander, rented out three farms on Islay: those of of Ardbeg, Airigh nam Beist and Ardenistiel, as well as half of the farmstead at Lagavulin.
Ardbeg is one of three distilleries on Islay’s southern side alongside Laphroaig, and Lagavulin which are known as the “Kildalton Distilleries” , Kildalton being the name of the ancient parish. There was and will be a fourth distillery, Port Ellen, which closed in 1983 but which is actually being return back into operation by Diageo sometime soon.
Ardbeg’s path was always tempestuous with many bankruptcies and temporary closures (in fact the distillery remained shut for most of the 1980s) with many changes of ownership all the way from the founding to the time that Ardbeg was bought by The Glenmorangie Company in 1997.
Today’s Ardbeg is refined and relatively sweet. It is medium bodied, as are all the Islay Whiskies, with very distinct lime and lemon tones which differentiate it from the other distilleries on the island, although it still sports that telltale Islay peatiness with a lot of the brine and iodine retained.
Ardbeg can justifiably claim to be the most highly awarded smoky single malt whisky anywhere in the world and has been voted ‘World Whisky of the Year’ no less than four times in last seven years.
