Ardbeg 1978 18 Year Old Cask #271 Adelphi

Ardbeg 1978 18 Year Old Cask  Adelphi

• Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
• Adelphi

70cl / 64.7%

An incredibly high ABV! Nose: extremely powerful, quite smoky and minty, with a bit of eucalyptus. Notes of burnt cake… Quite some wood too. Mouth: very punchy but drinkable. Notes of hot still (metal), very sugary but almost no peat. Was it an unpeated batch? Not bad at all but a strange one… Almost as strange as Johannes’ Cambodian funk yodeler (Wot, you doubt that exists? Then listen to this!) Water doesn’t work too well with this Ardbeg, alas (but it might help you yodel). Ardbeg 1978 18 Year Old Cask #271 Adelphi

We only tried earlier batches (downed, actually) of the 17, so this is a first. I believe this one was the last batch ever produced but I may well be wrong. The batches from the late 1990s scored 86 in our book. Colour: pale gold. Nose: very soft, almost whispering, starting more on fresh almond milk and green tea than on straight peat smoke. I’m wondering if this isn’t less peaty than the recent Blasda. Goes on with a little fresh butter, more tea, leaves (cherry tree), seashells, waxed paper and finally graphite oil. Very, very soft-spoken. Mouth: much more oomph but it’s still no big whisky. More medicinal than on the nose, more buttery as well, with also hints of cigarette tobacco, overripe apples and marsh mallow. Stale lemon juice? A little pine resin as well (sweet cough drops) and notes of cardboard. Finish: medium long, mildly peaty and a little salty. Comments: shy and not really delivering. It’s still very good whisky of course but the lack of power does not quite fit Ardbeg’s positioning, does it?