Where is Ardbeg Matured?

That's quite interesting. I tried to find out via the net and everything seems to suggest it's all matured on site. However, they are part of the Glenmorangie Company, who in turn are owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy - who have the resources on the mainland for storage of the types of quantities they must be producing. The only things of interest I found were whiskyforeveryone.com/whisky_distilleries… "The distillery continues to grow and will shortly have a new warehouse facility on the island allowing all whisky produced to be stored on the island for the first time in its history. Up to this time some whisky has been matured on mainland Scotland due to lack of space." I'm not sure how long ago that page was produced. The only other interesting tit bit I found was on a Master of Malt page talking about the construction of An Oa by Brendan McCarron, who it states is head of maturing whisky stocks at the Glenmorangie Company. It says that "he’s responsible for every cask of whisky maturing in Ardbeg and Glenmorangie’s warehouses – but admits he spends most of his time sampling new-make spirit and working on spirit-led innovations". masterofmalt.com/blog/post/… Does that imply that he splits his time between the two locations or that samples are brought to him or that some stock from both distilleries are matured in the same location? If it's the latter then it seems to be a closely guarded secret ha ha.

I'm sure I've heard Ralfy mention before that Ardbeg is not matured on Islay and is shipped to the mainland shortly after production. But I could be mistaken by that.

"Ardbeg is one of the only Scottish distilleries who use a purifier, which leads to a smoother spirit"

@RikS what do they mean by a purifier.

I would call Ardbeg many things, but smooth is not the first thing that comes to mind.

@Nozinan the info on the back of my Ardbeg 10 box states (among other things) "The unusual spirit still with its purifier, the only one of its kind on Islay, is what many believe contributes to this balance and complexity, making Ardbeg the malt to which all others aspire.......truly the Ultimate Islay Malt."

@Nozinan @Hewie i have no idea what it is. Though you guys might know....

@RikS it is essentially an add on to the lyne arm of the still so as to increase the amount of reflex that occurs. However, my scientific background suggests that more reflux = lighter, cleaner spirit rather than more complex. Oh well. Here's a photo (off Google images) which matches the drawing on the back of the Ardbeg 10 box.

Sorry, @RianC we've gone off topic here. This is from the following page "Two features of the spirit still are worthy of note. The first is a band of imitation rivets encircling its neck. The still it replaced had the neck and body joined together by rivets, and when the replacement was ordered, the imitation band of rivets was specified to ensure the new still matched the old as closely as possible to ensure continuity of character of the spirit it produced. The second is a tube, complete with U-bend, which descends from the lyne arm back into the still. This "purifier" recirculates some of what emerges from the still and effectively means that Ardbeg is two-and-a-half times distilled." undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/islay/… Now, where have we heard about spirit being two and a half times distilled before? ha ha Now here is a useful article about the use of purifiers - good reading! daveswhiskyreviews.com/2017/03/…

@Hewie - Don't apologise, it's all good stuff! I'd say I find Ardbeg quite a clean and light spirit - light in 'form' as Ralfy would say, not in flavour, mind! It's also unusual for me in that it has a distinct lime profile as apposed to lemon, if that makes sense?

I may have to open a 10 tonight to double check . . .