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W Club Ballot: Ardbeg Anthology The Harpy's Tale
We have 10 bottles of the latest Ardbeg release available for our ballot, which will open at 12pm on 5th September and remain open for 24 hours before closing at 12pm on the 6th September. W Club members can enter to take home one of these coveted bottles.
The Whisky
The Ardbeg Anthology Collection is a new series inspired by tales of unbelievable encounters – legendary brushes with the strangest creatures ever purported to stalk Islay. A rare beast Ardbeg indeed...
This bottling is inspired by the seldom-seen Harpy – a winged beast said to inhabit Islay with a human head and the body of an eagle. This legendary edition is a first for the distillery. The Harpy’s Tale has been matured for 13 years in rare Sauternes wine casks and married with classic Ardbeg ex-bourbon, before being bottled at 46% abv. Soaring Ardbeg smokiness, swoops into Sauternes sweetness.
Expect oily scents on the nose, with touches of sweet briar wood, aromatic herbs and smoked lemon peel. A soft, oily, mouthcoating texture leads into a rich, sweet, smoky palate, with hints of oak moss, treacle, aniseed lozenges and a woody/balsamic flavour, before a lingering finish of sweet smoke, with a hint of coconut on the close.
The Distillery
Heavily peated malt from Port Ellen, combined with long fermentation times, and use of a purifier pipe combine to produce a whisky that is at once citrus sweet and clean, oily in texture, and bursting with tarry smoke flavour. Located on Islay’s southern coast, the distillery was founded in 1815; it was intermittently mothballed from 1981 to 1989, then again in 1996, before being rescued by Glenmorangie and going on to gain cult status. Ardbeg is beloved by fans all across the globe for their peaty and surprisingly sweet expressions.
Good luck!
