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Ardbeg Grooves

malty peaty
4.3
(7)€293Scotland, Islay, Single Malt

Flavours

Whisky character

Fresh
Warm
Mild
Full
Smooth
Spicy

Taste mentions

Facts

Ardbeg sits on the south coast of Islay, where the distillery has made heavily peated spirit since the early 1800s. Grooves takes that smoky, medicinal character and rests it in wine casks. The result leans sweeter than you might expect from such a famously peaty name. You get brown sugar and ripe cherry threaded through the woodsmoke and char. There is brine here too, a salty tang that nods to the shoreline outside. The clove and cinnamon warmth keeps building as it settles. Pour it neat and let the smoke and fruit trade places in the glass.

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About the distillery

Distillery

Ardbeg

Ardbeg distillery is located on the southern coast of the Isle of Islay, Scotland. It was founded in 1815 and has been producing some of the world's most highly regarded Islay single malt whiskies ever since. Ardbeg uses traditional malted barley, Scottish water, and peat to produce its signature smoky and peaty flavors. The distillery uses malted barley that is heavily peated to around 55 parts per million (ppm) phenols, which gives its whiskies a distinct and powerful flavor. Interesting fact: In 2011, Ardbeg sent vials of its whisky to the International Space Station to study the effects of microgravity

4.2Average rating

137Whiskies on Distilld

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About the Ardbeg Grooves

Ardbeg Grooves is a single malt Scotch whisky from the Ardbeg distillery on Islay, Scotland. The distillery stands on the island's rugged south coast. It is long famous for some of the most heavily peated whisky made anywhere. Ardbeg Grooves takes that bold, smoky house style and matures it in wine casks. That choice softens the edges and pulls warm fruit out of the peat. The opening is unmistakably coastal, with brine and a medicinal, iodine note rolling in first. This is whisky built around contrast. The famous Ardbeg smoke arrives early, dense with char and ash from the kiln. Underneath it, the wine casks lend a sweeter, fruitier core. You notice brown sugar, ripe cherry, and a flash of citrus that brightens the whole thing. Clove and cinnamon add a baking-spice warmth. None of it tips into sweetness for its own sake. The peat keeps everything anchored and serious. Ardbeg has made spirit on Islay since the early nineteenth century, and the location does real work here. Sea air drifts through the warehouses and settles into the maturing casks. That coastal influence shows up as salt and a clean mineral edge. The distillery is owned today by the Glenmorangie group, but the heavily peated character has stayed true. Few names carry the same cult following among smoke lovers worldwide. On the palate the whisky is full and a little chewy. The wine casks bring a malty, jammy depth that wraps around the smoke. Char and clove sit alongside dark fruit and a lick of brown sugar. The finish is long, drying, and faintly medicinal, the way good Islay whisky should be. Pour Ardbeg Grooves neat and give it a few minutes. The smoke and fruit keep shifting as the glass opens up.