Ardbeg Lord of the Isles

Quick hit review. I'm not an Ardbeg fanboy, far from it - but who would pass on a chance to taste the legendary Lord of Isles? On the nose, mineral, briny and sooty notes are complemented by orange zest, peaches and tobacco. Magnificent, complex and balanced. Tropical fruits and peppery spices unleash the palate, while the ash cloud of dry peat smoke intensifies. It turns sweet and sour, aromatic and slightly resinous. Grapefruit, herbs and a dash of salt mark the prolonged finish. This iconic Islay malt has earned its reputation! RATING: 4.5/5.0 stars ≙ 92 pts → SUPERB

While this is good to my taste buds, it’s relatively simple. I get a very elegant Ardbeg, the sherry works well and it is all very cohesive.

An outstanding Ardbeg. Due to its age, it's naturally not as intensely smoky as the younger expressions in the core range, but precisely for that reason, it offers so much more. Pleasant floral notes, delicate citrus, and subtle dark chocolate. Rounded off by a truly long and enjoyable finish. I haven't had the chance to try the current 25yo from Ardbeg yet, but I'd be interested to now.

Tasted at the London Whisky Show 2025

Ardbeg Lord of the Isles. 3 tokens at The Whisky Show 2023 (£30 on top of admission) for a 1cl pour. I have often seen big scores for this one, which piqued my interest, so I was willing to splash out as a rare exception. Ultimately, it's difficult to tell much from a small sample like this. But I took my time with it and gave it time in the glass. Seaweedy aroma, slightly musty. Taste is soft and relaxed. Brine, seaweed, medicinal in a papery clove way. Quite a lot of clove: Clove sweets. Waxy. Grew on me. Becomes more complex and enjoyable over time. 3.575/85

Back in 2001, Stuart Tompson was kind enough to gave me a wee taster of it. I was gobsmacked by it. It was at the end of a session from a big whisky fest in Holland, by drinking that I was revived in a few seconds to pull me through the night

It is nice, but not as complex as hoped. Tasted blindly.

Ardbeg H2H I had a 2014 ten year just to get my palate used to the taste, I am no Ardbeg fan and still think most Ardbeg are scored too high generally but I will admit there was some quality in the old stuff on show in this tasting. On personal preference, even with these highly rated drams I found it all just a little bit dull at the end and while I scored the 1972 OB 93-94points and a clear winner with the Ardbeggeddon on 92 (would have been higher but for a lack lustre nose which dragged it's score down), the supposed best Ardbeg of all the 1976 was 3rd also on 92 but the Ardbeggeddon had a better taste & finish. I do these tastings for a reason, apart from my personal enjoyment it sometimes debunks for me the myths of how good some whisky is supposed to be, this is one of those times. The whisky here was good, I am not saying it isn`t but Ardbeg has always been and always will be not as good as everyone else thinks it is in my humble opinion, it does not reach the heights of say 1970's young, peated Glen Garioch or the best Brora, not even close apart from the 72 OB but that is just one man's humble opinion. As a side issue the 10 year from 2014 could hold it's head up and the Lord of the Isles for the money is rubbish and dull as dishwater, I think I am being generous awarded it 85p. Tasting order (lowest abv first) 1-Ardbeg 10 year 46% 2014 OB WB ID 67284 2-Ardbeg Lord of the Isles 25 year 2001 46% OB WB ID 14204 3-Ardbeggeddon 1972 Douglas Laing OMC 29 year 48.4% WB ID 5102 4-Ardbeg 1972 30 year cask 2782 49.9% OB WB ID 1295 5-Ardbeg 1973 27 year 50% Douglas Laing OMC 240 bottles WB ID 5581 6- Ardbeg 1974 23 year cask 1045 50.9% Signatory dumpy WB ID 7382 7- Ardbeg 1976 25 year cask 2395 54.9% OB WB ID 1292 Result 1st-Ardbeg 1972 30 year cask 2782 2nd- Ardbeggeddon 1972 Douglas Laing OMC 29 year 48.4% 3rd- Ardbeg 1976 25 year cask 2395 54.9% OB 4th- Ardbeg 1973 27 year 50% Douglas Laing OMC 5th- Ardbeg 1974 23 year cask 1045 50.9% Signatory dumpy 6th- Ardbeg 10 year 46% 2014 OB 7th- Ardbeg Lord of the Isles 25 year 2001 46%

nose: typical ardbeg, damp wood, sweet peat, mouth: thick oily, maritime notes, old wood, wet wood, bit of smoke, pine note, wood spice, leathery, finish: long and soft, herbal，

A very beautiful, polished, harmonious old Ardbeg. Complex, classic aromas, very tasty. First-class nose. Not for power fanatics who are looking for brute punch. Significantly better than the LotI L5.

This never takes of it is ok but it is rather dull and unexciting. One of the most overrated bottlings for wht is costs I have ever had, the 2005 bottling I only scored 84 points.

There’s so much depth, so much going on. I couldn’t do it justice in written form. At the same time, it’s so easy to drink. The peat is soft but with this understated intensity. The phrase “old-school” is thrown around a lot, but this is certainly an old-school peated whisky. Delicious.

One of the better Ardbeg. I still like it today. 92 Poäng. Hehe Description: also tastes like whisky, but with ashtray smell. On Neudeutsch: Weirdly this "Puang" gab, hehe. Can not Döitsch, talk Wiking this, is blatant. The Ardbeg better than other model. Nix almost no matter. Pulle is empty, has left.

I was a bit disappointed by the nose but the mouth definitely won me. It's not a complex whisky but it's excellently done and balanced.

Very smooth ardbeg with marzipan and vanilla quite enjoyable

Beautifully rounded and a pleasure N – buttery, emulsion, clotted cream, scones, forest floor, hint of strawberry plants, bees wax, burnt bacon, charcoal, burnt wood/ reeds, putty, coffee grounds, soil, crushed tablets, cocoa T –smoke, sweet smoked fish flesh, smoked bacon rind, maple, cayenne, cinnamon, saline, cream, charcoal, ash, charred bbq artichoke/ chicory - 26 F – ash, smoke, saline, tablets, alka selza, dry reeds, bbq artichoke, bbq char, cayenne pepper, cream, charcoal, ash, smoke – 25 = 89

And that's an Ardbeg from the 70s? I would never have guessed it was that old due to the lack of depth and finesse. Softened by the drinking strength... Click here for the full review: https://keinehalbendrinks.de/2022/11/20/drei-lords-von-der-insel/

The heritage is clear from the first whiff that fills the room after pouring. When you close your eyes, you’re reminded of the rugged shores of Kildalton coast when a storm is brewing. You can smell different aspects depending on where you put your nose to the glas. It keeps changing and developing the longer you nose it. This is clearly Ardbeg.. and yet it’s so utterly different from modern Ardbegs. The fruity and delicate quality of the spirit, the elegant maturity of the casks, the refined, mossy peatsmoke which does not punch you in the face… If you taste it, you know why they put „the supreme expression of Ardbeg“ on the front label. The casks used here were of the highest order. Lick your lips, you can taste the salty sea air of days gone by. It’s essentially 1974 to 1976 stock, with a proportion of lightly peated „Kildalton“ malt that makes up the recipe of this bottling. The historic presentation inspired by the 8th century Moneymusk Reliquary and the scroll that gives you the history of the Lords of the Isles add even more drama. 93/100

Serge says: Ardbeg 25 yo 'Lord of the Isles' (46%, OB, 2001) Yes, that's the one in the green coffin - by the way the new bottling for the Festival 2004 comes in a green coffin too... Tastes and colours... Anyway, imagine I never tasted this one before! Nose: very smoky but not especially ‘peaty’. Or let’s put it this way: only the ‘smoky’ component shine through. A little restrained. Lots of ripe apple. Heavy peat arises after a while, though, together with some grassy, farmy notes. Mouth: bold and rich with some tropical fruit and a load of peat and smoke. Very nice balance. This is pure Ardbeg, even if I think there are some (even) better versions around (OB Provenance, Douglas Laing OMC or Platinum etc.) The ‘LOTI’ just lacks a little complexity in my opinion, but has a very, very long finish. 92 points (Davin 92, Ho-cheng 91, Olivier 92).

Ardbeg was distilled thirty or forty years ago, peat can't hide its delicate flavor.

Very good, unique sandalwood fragrance!

Character: round, soft, powerful, he has a lot. Very good.

der beste Islay und Ardbeg-Whisky den ich bisher getrunken habe!

A good old,different Ardbeg with a  silky body.

Refined, high quality Ardbeg, in cask strength this would be knock out!

The Whisky Show Old & Rare Glasgow 23 - 24 February 2019

Absolutely stunning and miles ahead of the new 25 (which is still very good, by the way). Stunningly complex, balanced and not subdued by the age in any way.

So, I do not know what to say to you. This is one of the few times the note takes a chip so I bet on this sample. Clearly disappointed, I was expecting a lot more. More precision, more length, more of everything! It's good but nothing more. It's like having a whisky with potential when you're supposed to have a mature whisky.

An island king without "kingdom", it is exquisite and delicate, rich in layers, elegant and soft, not far-reaching and grand, and it has no sense of power.

Maritime with nice, sweet smoke and citrus. Fig crumble in a warm inn on Islay. The taste is intense and fits perfectly into the Christmas season with a clear cinnamon note. Dry and flavorful.

Tones of burnt reeds in the swamps, dying out, with ash, resin, cucumbers, yellow fruits and field dust flying in the air.

We noticed an impeccable balance of the distillate, with the addiction of that special ancient peat that could get poetic even a fruit juice, and it’s incredible how much that worths into a seventy years old Ardbeg Scotch.

Sweet, lots of ripe fruits, especially apples. some smoke

Wonderful example of Ardbeg. Like sitting in an old leather armchair while eating a delicious but heavy afternoon snack in a worn but comfortable rustic stone cottage heated by a fireplace burning peat and wood on a damp late-spring day. Notes: Mouthfeel is oily and viscous. Nose becomes more sweet vanilla and malt with time.

There's an effervescence and lightness that's truly incredible. One of the best Ardbeg's I have ever had.

A famously good bottling from the 1970s from Ardbeg despite not being single cask, being bottled at 46% instead of the usual 40 or 43% definitely helps. This is one of those bottles that is a must-have for anyone who is a fan of smoky whisky

LWC tasting with Ardbaggie. Amongst 1974 SV, 1977 OB, Airigh Nam Beist, 1991 OMC, 2004 AD, this was the stand out and well deserves its high reputation, a fantastic Ardbeg, wonderfully balanced, and the new Ardbeg to beat for me. Thank you Ardbaggie! 9/10