Ardbeg Distillery, Scotland     founded: 1815 | active
For more detailed mapping of the distilleries in the area from our whisky map page, use this link.

At first hit, there are green apples, champagne and cinnamon, with an intrusion from a sea breeze and a lime or two. After a while, vanilla, chocolate, cream and wood smoke start to appear, along with some fruity memories of apricots and citrus.. and what's this? Yep, carrot cake.

Water seems to add richness to the dram, with maple, christmas cake and raspberries appearing. It's a varied aroma too, as royal icing and aniseed creep in, almost unnoticed.

There's more bite on the mouth than on the nose, with sea salt, peat, kippers and a medicinal impact all featuring. There are still fruity vibes though, mainly lime, strawberry and vanilla and a sweetness comes through with syrup and thoughts of a heather meadow.

A pretty long finish, with charcoal, spice and milk chocolate as well as lemon, pine and charcoal. Butter, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla are there, and there's even some nutty cheese.

~£45 (70cl)

We've always scored out of 10 in our group (see number in red box, below), with scores regularly given across that spectrum. The value out of 100 below is adjusted to the scale most commonly used for whisky reviews, to allow for better comparison.

80 / 100