Interesting change at Ardbeg and Lagavulin

[BoliDan]

Article for you Islay peat heads. Interesting change. I expect much less NAS coming out of Ardbeg, but I'm not a fan of Diageo practices either

(I don't think they make anything that isn't watered down, and play the brand recognition game to overprice too much... Maybe Talisker 10 when I see it for $35 but that's about it).

I'm surprised these companies don't have non-compete clauses. You can basically piss on Lagavulin from the Ardbeg distillery (Make sure you have a good arc to reach).

Probably no change at Lagavulin since it is Diageo and they just tell you what to do, but we'll see. I do love the 16 year. I'm interested in what we will see in the next decade.

Lagavulin’s Distillery Manager Is Taking Over at Ardbeg

At Ardbeg, whose longtime distillery manager, Mickey Heads, is set to step down on Oct. 1. He’ll be succeeded by Colin Gordon, a veteran of the scotch whisky industry who has spent the last eight years working for Diageo—first as site operations manager for the Port Ellen Maltings, which supplies malt to the majority of Islay’s distilleries, and most recently as distillery manager at Lagavulin since 2018. With a wealth of knowledge about whisky’s core ingredient, grain, and experience across Islay’s industry, Gordon is well-prepared to assume the mantle at Ardbeg, even as the distillery’s expansion—which adds two new stills to double capacity—comes fully on line in the second quarter of next year.

Not A Goodbye

Heads has worked in the whisky business his entire career, including a stint at Ardbeg decades before he took over the distillery manager position in 2007. Under his keen eye, production has ramped up in an effort to keep pace with the demand for the distillery’s whiskies, which are prized for their intense peatiness and oily, robust character. And, working with head of distilling and whisky creation Bill Lumsden and head of maturing whisky stocks Brendan McCarron, Heads has been instrumental in the development of numerous well-received releases, including Ardbeg Supernova, Ardbeg An Oa, and the recently launched Ardbeg Wee Beastie.

Though he’ll no longer be running the distillery day-to-day, Heads will stay involved as chair of the Ardbeg Committee, the group of dedicated super-fans who number over 120,000 worldwide, for the next three years. He’s a familiar face around the distillery and constant presence at Ardbeg Day during Fèis Ìle, and will remain on Islay in his retirement

[Meklown]

Agreed that I also expect minimal change in Laga, especially since he's only been the manager for 2 years and that is really a short time in whisky terms. 

On the other hand, I have heard that the reason for the high number of NAS releases from Ardbeg was because they didn't have a good stock of aged whisky (similar to why the Japanese distilleries stopped production of all their aged statements). 

[ChanceSchmerr]

8 hours ago, Meklown said:

On the other hand, I have heard that the reason for the high number of NAS releases from Ardbeg was because they didn't have a good stock of aged whisky (similar to why the Japanese distilleries stopped production of all their aged statements). 

That's part of the reason - Ardbeg only restarted production in late 1997 under the present owners, and had produced no whisky from about 1981 to 1989, and sparingly from 1989 to 1996. And, most of the 1989-1996 stuff is long gone (think Airigh Nam Beist, Old Ardbeg 10 (Pre-2008) and was, by and large, fabulous whisky.  

The other reason they release so many NAS bottlings is that.....they sell.  Their fanbase and reputation was such that for almost a decade, they have been able to fiddle with the cask type/treatment each time, and people will gobble up the bottling regardless of the internal quality.  Some have been excellent (Alligator, Ardbog, the new Blaack), some have been mediocre (Perpetuum, Auriverdes, Dark Cove) and some have been garbage (Kelpie was disgusting, a treacly-sweet hot mess)..but they all sold out, and the only difference is that the bad-mediocre ones sell for 120% OR price on Auction sites, and the excellent ones for 200% and more.  If they sell out every year, why change it up?

My problem with Ardbeg is that the aged stuff that we (as Ardbeg fans) have been waiting for for years, was astronomically priced when it did come out.  When your 10yr bottling is £35-40, and the 19 year starts at 4-5 times that, something is bloody wrong. I never even bothered to get the new 17 yr.  Ardbeg was my #1 favorite whisky, but now I barely even notice their new bottlings.  I'll enjoy the older ones that I have and remember the good times, but safe to say that they are no longer an auto-buy for me.

Good luck to Mr. Gordon. I can only hope he and the Ardbeg team refocus on the whisky, rather than the marketing.