8:44 AM : Right. The day I've been waiting for. Ardbeg Day! Since we had already picked up our distillery bottles of the Perpetuum we decided to take it easy and get to Ardbeg by 11:00 AM
Ardbeg Day – My final day on Islay.
11:15 AM : Arrive at Ardbeg to much fanfare and a lot of activities. Games, an ice bar, Ardbeg ice cream, Ardbeg flavored smoke machines, sheep throwing and a live band all added to a really festive atmosphere at the distillery. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Only thing was they were selling all the drams instead of free sampling. But, oh, well.
1:30 PM : Attended the lovely Warehouse Tour where we got to sample the Very Young and a 31 Year old Single Cask straight out of an unmarked bottle. I had goosebumps simply tasting the spirit. Gorgeous!
Picked up two more Festival bottlings (the silver seals) - when will I learn that enough is enough!
2:45 PM : Made our way to Laphroaig to see if there were any tasting spots available. After much begging managed to secure a place on the Premium Tasting tour. And what a tasting that turned out to be!
3:15 PM : Attended the Premium Tasting tour with a lovely gentleman by the name of David who took us through some mighty fine Laphroaigs. First a 15 year from the 200th Anniversary release, then the 2014 25 year old, the 2009 Cairdeas, then the 2008 Cairdeas and finally the jewel in crown a single cask 18 year old cask strength brought over from the warehouse not 30 minutes before we sat down for a taste.
I have to tell you this was one of the most amazing tastings I've had ever. Brilliant!
5:30 PM : Made a pit stop at our favorite watering hole, the Ballygrant Inn, for a taste of the Kilchoman Festival Release. I'll share those notes with you shortly. Let's just say this distillery is living up to it's reputation of producing brilliant whiskies!
7:45 PM : Ended the day with a quiet dinner at Port Charlotte Hotel accompanied by a Smokehead Extra Black 18 and a Bruichladdich Cuvee 640
All in all this was a wonderful day and my last day on Islay before I fly out. This has been one of the most wonderful trips I have been on experiencing some of the most wonderful whiskies to come out of this tiny island.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this small diary as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
For connosr.com this is the Malt Activist signing off. See you all next year for Feis Ile 2016!
