This is a sample of the first candidate created for what would become Perpetuum which I’ve nicknamed Ardbeg Perpetuum Alpha. It’s not an official release and I acquired it through a friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, in the LA whisky community who has friends at Ardbeg. From what they tell me this was the first blending of casks that Dr. Bill put together and submitted to the tasting panel at Ardbeg for this year’s limited release, but was obviously not chosen so Bill had to go back to the drawing board, or warehouse as it were.
Things like this are why I love being a part of an active whisky community and Los Angeles has an incredibly active one filled with amazing people and clubs. It was after one such club meeting that I was sitting around talking to the source of this whisky while I was doing Ardbeg April here on TWJ. After a few minutes of chatting they reached into their bag and produced a tall skinny flask-like glass bottle with a hand written label and all of the usual sample bottle markings. They wouldn’t let me take a picture of the bottle because they thought the handwriting would be noticeable. But I’m not complaining.
Ardbeg Perpetuum Alpha Info
Region: Isaly, Scotland
Distiller: Ardbeg
Mashbill: 100% Malted barley
Age: NAS
ABV: ?
Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color
Price: NA
Ardbeg Perpetuum Alpha Review
EYE
Werther’s butterscotch hard candy
NOSE
Salty and sweet with a full range of sweet dark dessert notes along with notes of honey and graham. The peat is hiding somewhere in the middle along with notes of overripe orchard fruit, citrus, spice, dried dark fruit and a light sherry-like note. There is a dark undertone that reminds me of old Ardbeg like the 21 yr olds I tried during Ardbeg April.
PALATE
The nose was reminiscent of old Ardbeg, but the palate is full on old Ardbeg… just a bit muted. Cocoa, molasses, wood, fruit, spice and peat. Honey graham crackers, charred citrus, dark honey and nougat run along lightly. A dark earthiness rides underneath and kicks up a bit more at the end.
FINISH
Long, dark and soapy with notes of cola spice, wood, caramel, peat and a waxy fruit.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Dark notes are a bit heavy and feels a bit off balance, a rich round body and a warm heavy texture, like melted caramel.
OVERALL
After tasting it I can see why Ardbeg Perpetuum Alpha was voted down. It’s good, it’s reminiscent of pre-acquisition Ardbeg and contains a lot of the qualities that I wish the current release included based on what it stands for, but on it’s own it’s not fully there and doesn’t represent post-acquisition Ardbeg as well as the actual release does. In a perfect world they would have mixed the two together and I think it would have been stellar. In my own small scale experiment I really enjoyed a mix of roughly 80% current Perpetuum and 20% Perpetuum Alpha. It had all the crisp smoky flavor we love about recent Ardbeg, but also brought through some of those great dark notes of the past.
SCORE: 88/100