.ardbeg - auriverdes

At the Feis Ile - the festival of music and spirit on the Isle of Islay, every distillery has their own event bottling, mostly released during their own day, or spread in smaller batches during the week of festivities. Ardbeg distillery is normally the distillery that ends the sequence of festivities with a large themed party at their distillery terrain, and have a bottling reflecting that very same theme, just as most of their staff. In 2014, this bottling was themed after the World Football Championship, taking part during the same period, "named after its golden whisky (auri), and unmistakable green bottle (verde)" from the colors of the Brazilian flag and of various Brazilian national sports teams.

49.9% abv, €100
single malt, non-chill filtered

Nose: sweet, honey, smoke, floral, heather, dried fruit, berries, blackcurrant, fresh fruit, mangos, menthol, eucalyptus, liquorice, citrus, lemon zest

Palate: sweet, creamy, salted butter, dried fruit, berries, blackcurrants, cherries, ground coffee, fruit, fresh mangos, a touch of banana, menthol mint, liquorice, smoke, a touch of ash, crayons?

Finish: long, firm, sweet, creamy honey, salted butter, smoke, ash, tar
Mark: ++++/+

Conclusion: I rather like this. Actually. I am rather fond of this. She is feisty, fiery, sweet, bold and creamy. I do not remember this to be this nice when we first opened the bottle almost two years ago. Did the flavour continue to develop during her time in the small sample bottle from which I tasted this? Now I am sad we only got hold of one bottle...

More info: Distilled in 2002, bottled into 6660 bottles in 2014 and surprisingly enough (for an Ardbeg) she is still available at the Ardbeg shop for the original price (February 2016).