Single Malt
Scotland
1 Jan 2000
1 Jan 2024
Ardbeg fans will know the year 2000 was a turning point for the Islay distillery. Three years into Glenmorangie’s revival of Ardbeg, Dr Bill Lumsden and his team had new energy, old stills, and a stock of spirit that would define the modern era. Ardbeg Y2K 24 Year Old marks that pivotal moment, celebrating both the distillery’s regeneration and the Committee’s 25th anniversary.
For the 2025 edition, Dr Bill has finished a batch of millennium spirit in his favourite sherry cask style: Amontillado. Matured in a mix of bourbon and sherry casks, it’s a smoky anomaly of old-school Ardbeg character meeting new flavour dimensions. Especially given Amontillado casks are something that Ardbeg has never done before...
Pungent, deep, aromatic and spicy, with beautiful notes of creamy toffee, flowering blackcurrants, creosote, coal tar soap, antique leather and almond nuts, with a splash of water, hints of charcoal, graphite and damp moss emerge, along with a distinct sooty note.
Astonishingly powerful and spicy on the palate, with a burst of deep, intense, smoky flavours – coal tar mingles with woodsmoke, while antiseptic lozenges meet bonfire embers. The Amontillado sherry casks are present, albeit in the background, with subtle notes of toffee, leather, cinnamon and clove.
Long and lingering aftertaste, there are hints of menthol, eucalyptus, linseed oil and charcoal.
