Glenmorangie director of distilling, whisky creation, and whisky stocks Dr. Bill Lumsden bottled history with the release of Ardbeg The Rollercoaster.
On March 25th 1981, Ardbeg Distillery closed and the stills ran cold, and at the time, nobody knew if they would ever run again. A downturn in the scotch market saw Islay pay a heavy price as demand for peated stocks of whisky for blending diminished. Distilleries around the island closed or shifted to reduced production. New hope for Ardbeg didn’t come until the end of the summer in 1989 when the distillery reopened, using moderately peated malt from nearby Port Ellen Maltings for its production. But there was more turbulence in the whisky markets during the 1990s and Ardbeg’s fortunes were short-lived as then-owner Allied Distillers Ltd shut the distillery again in 1996 and put it up for sale.
The Glenmorangie Company Ltd. bought the distillery and remaining inventory in 1997 and set about its restoration, upgrading the equipment and buildings to make the distillery operational again. “I undertook a comprehensive review of the character of the Ardbeg stock, and as I fully expected, I found it extremely inconsistent,” remarks Dr. Bill Lumsden, director of distilling, whisky creation, and whisky stocks. “This made it interesting from a cask selection perspective, but it wasn’t ideal in terms of releasing consistent quality bottlings over the years.” Lumsden re-barreled much of the aging Ardbeg into new charred oak, first-fill bourbon barrels, and first-fill and refill sherry casks to achieve a more consistent quality in the spirit. “The records we inherited from the previous owners really didn’t say anything at all about the quality of the wood, so we had to take a guess at that ourselves. That’s changed now as we have a very robust wood management policy.” As Ardbeg had few official bottlings and was only really available through independent bottlings by Gordon & MacPhail and a few others at that point, Ardbeg began to nurture a new generation of peated whisky fans with single cask bottlings and vintage releases from the 1970s. The Ardbeg Committee was launched in 2000 opening the door to a series of exclusive bottlings that became collectible, and followers were invited to join Ardbeg on the peaty path to maturity as the new spirit came of age.
Reflecting on the highs and lows of Ardbeg’s fortunes during the final decades of the 20th century, Lumsden has bottled two casks of Ardbeg single malt from the 1980s. These whiskies capture the spirit and the style of the Ardbeg that was made just before the distillery closed in 1981 and during the revival in 1989. Named Ardbeg The Rollercoaster, the twin bottle set is bottled at natural cask strength and housed in a presentation box crafted from solid Scottish oak by renowned designer John Galvin, inspired by Ardbeg’s rollercoaster history. An undulating copper-color line reflects the track of a rollercoaster, and it opens up to reveal an interior with details in copper and leather, reminiscent of a rollercoaster car—complete with the traditional bumper. The label on the 1981 bottle reads “The End Was Nigh” while the message on the 1989’s label is “A New Beginning.” Only 143 sets have been made, limited by the amount of liquid remaining in the 1989 cask, but Ardbeg The Rollercoaster also used the very last cask of Ardbeg distilled in 1981, a year when the distillery was only briefly operational. “There were people on-site in 1981 as there were casks in the warehouse, so it wasn’t completely deserted,” remarks Ardbeg master blender and head of whisky creation Gillian Macdonald. “A few buildings were demolished, but nothing was distilled.” The distillery remained closed until 1989, meaning the stills ran cold for eight years and nothing was produced. “Not a drop,” confirms Lumsden. “If you see a bottle of Ardbeg 1982, you know it’s a fake.”
“Even in 1989, Ardbeg was only distilled for a couple of months of the year,” says Macdonald. “Just enough to produce some stock, but most of it was used for blending.” Lumsden discloses that mainly workers from nearby Laphroaig Distillery ran Ardbeg for those couple of months each year. He adds, “They got things up and running again in 1989, then there was quite a large level of production in 1990, but over 1991, 1992, 1993, it gradually decreased, then there was a little bit [produced] in 1996, and that was that.”
“When we bought it, the distillery was literally held together with string, chewing gum, and tape,” recalls Lumsden. “In the mash house, there was a distinctive crimson and grey shoe box on the wall, and I thought it must be some good luck symbol, but one of the guys said no, no, and took it off to reveal an electrical junction box behind it. That was the condition we inherited, and the distillery ran for about two months in 1997 then we had to stop, as we needed to install new brewing tanks. I have to say, all credit to Allied Distillers, who put it up for sale as a going concern rather than just bulldozing the site. Even though The Glenmorangie Company was not the highest bidder, they decided they would sell it to us as they had faith that we would resurrect it.”
Ardbeg The Rollercoaster is a time capsule of historic peating levels, as both are quite different from what happens at Ardbeg today. The 1981 cask is a Kildalton-style Ardbeg, a lighter peated style used in the early 1980s, while the 1989 cask is closer to the classic heavily peated Ardbeg of today. “The Ardbeg 1981 is between 12–15 ppm,” outlines Lumsden. “This was malt from the Ardbeg Distillery floor maltings blended with unpeated malt from the Kilgour Maltings on the mainland, whereas the malt for the 1989 cask would be more peated, but not be as high as we have these days."
Ardbeg’s only previous twin-bottling collectible release was Ardbeg Double Barrel 1974 released in 2007, which was a $20,000 set containing two single cask vintage bottlings: the 95 point cask no. 3145 and the 94 point cask no. 3524. The rollercoaster name has history too, as Ardbeg Rollercoaster was released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Ardbeg Committee in 2010. This received 89 points and contained whisky from every year of production from 1997 to 2006.
Ardbeg The Rollercoaster is priced at €100,000 (approx. $107,000) for the two-bottle set, making it the most expensive Ardbeg release to date (U.S. customers will pay the U.S. equivalent price based on prevalent exchange rates). It will be offered through the Moët Hennessy Private Client channel, and collectors and connoisseurs can register their interest to purchase via ardbeg.com, or enquire at the Distillery Visitor Center on Islay.
What does Ardbeg The Rollercoaster taste like?
93 Ardbeg The Rollercoaster 1981 Cask No. 1, 47.3%
The nose has fudge, butterscotch, dried fruit, sherry notes, a little wood ash, and lightly fragrant spices. It’s a soft soul, with fig, exotic spices, gummy cola bottles, rich sherry fruit, clove, treacle-baked ham, gingerbread, and light smoke on the back palate. A slightly waxy mouthfeel on the soothing finish, with dried vine fruit, brown sugar, and further hints of smoke.
96 Ardbeg The Rollercoaster 1989 Cask No. 17, 45.3%
Softly layered, with a buttery nose of peppermint fondant, pine needles, lemon meringue pie, honey cough drops, and peat smoke that wraps around you like a thick woolen blanket. Beautifully light on the palate, with sweet butterscotch sauce, lemon, vanilla, sugared banana, honeydew, melted white chocolate, star fruit, and gentle peppery smoke, with a growing waxiness leading into a smooth, dry finish. One of the best Ardbegs ever released.
