Momentous Minutes - The Ardbeg Project

It’s a lock-inThe experience of being locked in a pitchblack room might be considereda nightmare by some. Not by a wanderingJapanese whiskyphile however, who gotmore than he bargained for when ona recent group visit to the distillery.The party was assembled outside the OldKiln Café and, along with the distinctivepeaty aroma, a buzz of excitement filled theair as Stuart Thomson readied himself tostrike out on his famously entertainingtour of the distillery.Apprehension…Realisation…All seemed to be going well. The visitorswended their way by the washbacks. Theywere stirred by the stills. They thenproceeded to Warehouse No. 3 where thingsdid not go according to plan.After marvelling at the abundant hogsheads,barrels and casks, carefully racked andstowed, the party duly made their way tothe exit and Stuart locked the door behindthem. It was only upon the party’s return tothe Old Kiln Café that it was noticed thegroup was short by one. The alarm wasraised and a search party hastily formed.A short while later, the door to thewarehouse was unlocked and flung open.Our absentee emerged grinning from earto ear, telling us that to be trapped in thedark with around half a million gallons ofArdbeg was a veritable dream come true.Apologies all the same.“The third glass is thebest glass! Try it”Richard Scoular,Committee Member 5457“Burns like hell!But very nice”M.J. Zantun, HollandExpressions of Delight…“So far the first distilleryallowing free tastingwithout touring. Keep upthat spirit!”Karin Thelander, Sweden“Your malts are thegreatest to be foundanywhere on earth”Chris Mongiello,New Jersey…Disappearing ExpressionsThis letter from 1922 records “a choke in the beaters” affecting the distillery machinery.Just goes to show that amazing expressions have always been evident at Ardbeg.Stumbling on ArdbegThere is a question that has been occupying ourthoughts at the distillery for some time: where,when and why did you first encounter Ardbeg?Did you stumble upon this magnificent maltby chance, or did you discover it under theinfluence of some munificent guiding figure?Alwyn Pritchard of Harrogate has already toldus of his epiphany: “I first met Ardbeg ata shop on the front at Brodick (Arran) andhave preferred it to all others ever since.”If like him you are at ardbeg.com in the nearfuture, please call into the Committee Roomand recount your memories in Expressionsof Delight. We’d love to hear your story.Being Chief Article takes a lot of bottleIn which case, Thomas Beckmann is wellqualified for the post, for he has 47 differentArdbeg bottlings and over 80 bottles in all.He made his first purchase in 1996 andhasn’t looked back since. The oldestArdbeg in his collection is a 32 year oldDouglas Laing bottling (distilled in 1967)and his youngest is, of course, Very YoungArdbeg at just six years old.On a recent visit to the distillery, anenthusiastic Thomas told us, “My favouriteArdbegs at the moment are: ArdbegUigeadail, Ardbeg 1977 and a 28 year old1972/2000 Douglas Laing bottling.”It is such an impressive collection that wewould like to inaugurate Thomas as the nextChief Article. Therefore, if any of you knowof any reason why this fan and his anorakmay not be brought together (i.e. you havemore bottles in your own collection) pleasespeak now.Then again, for sheer canniness, anotherstrong contender is Mr. Mark Hallberg, theAmerican Vice President of a medicalinstruments company based in Tokyo.Long an Ardbeg fan and CommitteeMember, he travelled thousands of miles toArdbeg in June, blissfully unaware that, asthe annual Islay Malt & Music Festival wasin full swing, he was highly unlikely to finda bed for the night.Upon arriving at the distillery his predicamentsoon came to light and his plight explained tohim. Taking pity on their visitor, the girls rangaround and managed to secure him the verylast bed on the island.If you feel your own endeavours beat thoseof Thomas and Mark, please feel free to putyour case forward at The Chief Article pageat ardbeg.com.Ardbeg Distillery, Port Ellen, Islay, Argyll PA42 7EA