Gillian Macdonald gave what may be the best (or at least most inviting) description of a Scotch I’ve ever heard last week at a New York tasting of Ardbeg Trudernish, the Islay distillery’s new permanent 15-year-old release.
“Imagine walking along a beach on Islay, licking a vanilla ice cream that’s slowly melting, and you’re trying to spin it around and stop it falling down your cone,” says Macdonald, the master blender of Ardbeg. “And that vanilla ice cream has got a covering of slightly sort of salted caramels, or a toffee sauce on top, or it’s got caramel salted caramel chips inside. And you have this glorious, salty maritime element as you’re walking along the beach, where you’re getting battered by the wind and rain.”
As a peaty whisky fan but someone who also likes the sweeter stuff, which is often more of a bourbon note, I was fascinated by what the distillery is calling “a smoky dram of creamy harmony.”
What is Trudernish? And how does a smoky Islay single malt achieve those sweet flavors? First, a little background.
What Is Ardbeg?
Established in 1815 on the south coast on the isle of Islay, the award-winning distillery is known for its peaty single malts that often offer a sweeter smoke profile. Since 1997, it’s been owned by The Glenmorangie Company.
Part of what makes the distillery special is The Ardbeg Committee, a group consisting of 200,000 members worldwide who are consulted on new expressions and offered exclusive bottlings (it’s free to join!). Macdonald co-chairs it.
What is Ardbeg Trudernish 15 Years Old?
The name of the new expression was inspired by the ancient settlement of Trudernish on Islay’s “Enchanted Cape,” where legend has it that water in the cape’s well never freezes over.
As for the liquid? “It’s the first permanent expression in our core range in a good number of years, so we’re really excited,” says Macdonald. And while the distillery gets its reputation for being peaty and smoky, the blender notes that there’s plenty more at work in the bottle. “We’re not just peat, peat, peat. There are other flavors in there. Take the Ardbeg Ten. You’ve got all those smoky flavors, coal dust, antiseptic notes, wood smoke notes and a whole host of phenols. But on the other side, you have these balancing flavors: fruity and citrus notes of lemon and lime, herbal notes of pine resin, and all these floral notes.”
Courtesy Image
Ardbeg Ten is a good comparison, as it’s entirely matured in ex-bourbon casks. While the Trudernish offers an advanced age statement and aging in two other barrels (ex-Oloroso sherry and new charred oak barrels), those other oak maturations are kept at a minimum.
Instead, the flavor profile here is inspired by the 2006 limited-edition, vintage-dated release called Airigh Nam Beist, which has become a cult favorite for Ardbeg fans (as you can see by the secondary market pricing). “That was the inspiration for this,” says Macdonald. “That was the direction for flavor. People said it had high levels of vanilla and how it was creamy and smooth and easy drinking.”
Related: Forget Peat—Bunnahabhain’s New 110.6-Proof Islay Scotch Is Islay at Its Finest
How Ardbeg Trudernish 15 Years Old Tastes
Coming in at 97.6 proof, the whisky here was aged primarily in ex-bourbon barrels, as well as small amounts in ex-Oloroso sherry and new charred oak barrels.
Do you like bourbon? Do you like peaty Scotch? You might have the best of both worlds here. The expression is full of vanilla, butterscotch, and milk chocolate, but with a sweet campfire ash throughout and a long smoky finish. It’s a good sipper but worked unusually well in cocktails both light (highballs) and stirred (Manhattans). It’s no wonder the whisky, just released, has already won a Double Gold at this year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Courtesy Image
The Trudernish release also debuts a new bottling for the entire Ardbeg line, which is rolling out across the brand’s core range. Basically, each expression now gets its own accent color, new tasting notes/flavor descriptions, and woodcut-style illustrations by artist Johnny Greenteeth, nodding to each bottle’s individual story through the whisky’s canine mascot Shortie.
Ardbeg Trudernish 15 Years Old is available now for $85-$90.
More on Whiskey
- Why This Rare $299 Bourbon’s Scandalous History Makes It One of the Year’s Most Coveted Bottles
- At 164-Proof, Blade and Bow’s Newest 30-Year Bourbon Should Be Undrinkable, but It’s Extraordinary
- How a Kentucky Priest Brought Rare Bourbon to the Vatican—and Got Pope Francis to Sign Bottle No. 1
- At This Colorado Whiskey Hotel, You Can Sleep Steps From the Stillhouse
