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ardbeg traigh bhan batch 2 2020

Ardbeg Traigh Bhan 19 Years Batch 2 (2020)

14 September 2020 0 comments Article Ardbeg, Islay, Scotland, Tasting Notes

I never managed to source a sample of the very first batch of the Ardbeg Traigh Bhan (pronounced ‘Tri-Van’), which I really would’ve liked to taste. It was the first age statement addition to the Ardbeg core range in two decades. Not just any age statement, I might add. The Ardbeg Traigh Bhan is 19 years old, which is pretty much ancient in Ardbeg terms.

But while I missed out on the first release, I now do get to try the second batch. It varies from the 2019 edition in terms of cask make-up; there’s a higher proportion of first fill bourbon casks, which means less refill and sherry casks.

Ardbeg Tragh Bhan 19 Years Batch 2 (46.2%, OB, 2020)

Nose: Sweet fruits like tinned pineapple and apricots, accompanied by soot, liquorice and smoked kippers. A hint of bandages as well, with some pebbles and a good amount of vegetal peat. Finally a whiff of iodine.
Taste: Balanced and mature, with a peat influence to match. Still rather sooty and ashy though. Whiffs of tropical fruit, although maybe not in as much abundance as I’d like. A nice salinity with soft smoke and touches of plastic.
Finish: Dry, vanilla and ashy. Finally a tinge of chocolate. Medium in length.

Score: 88

Because mature Ardbeg is rare these days, this is rather a treat. But it is simply very good whisky too. Quite ashy, but with some nice fruity notes to balance everything. They mentioned less sherry casks were used for this batch, and I suspect it were very few indeed. This tastes like a bourbon matured Ardbeg to me.

Sample provided by Ardbeg

Thijs Klaverstijn Kingairloch 3
Thijs Klaverstijn

Thijs is a spirits writer and accredited liquorist from The Netherlands. He runs the blog Words of Whisky and contributes to a number of Dutch and international publications.

Tags: 19yo, ardbeg, islay, traigh bhan

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Words of Whisky is the blog of Thijs Klaverstijn, a freelance writer and journalist from Twente, a region in the east of The Netherlands. He's been drinking whisky for quite some time now, but a visit to Scotland in the summer of 2013 has turned his love for whisky into somewhat of an obsession. This blog serves as an outlet for that obsession.

Copyright Words of Whisky 2018