Ardbeg 7 Year Old 2015 | Single Cask No.5619 | 70cl, 60.4% ABV

A rare and intriguing single cask Ardbeg, distilled on 7th August 2015 and aged for over 7 years in a second-fill Côte-Rôtie red wine cask before being bottled on 22nd March 2023 at a fierce 60.4% ABV. Just 289 individually numbered bottles were yielded from cask No.5619, making this one of the most limited and distinctive single cask Ardbeg releases in recent memory.

The cask choice here is what sets this expression apart from the crowd. Côte-Rôtie is one of the most prestigious and celebrated appellations in the Northern Rhône Valley, producing complex, full-bodied red wines primarily from the Syrah grape — wines known for their distinctive notes of dark fruit, violets, smoked meat, and black olive. As a second-fill cask, the wine influence is present but measured, weaving an elegant thread of Rhône character through Ardbeg's ferociously peated, coastal spirit without overpowering it.

The pairing of Côte-Rôtie's distinctive smoky, dark fruit character with Ardbeg's own peat smoke and maritime intensity is a genuinely inspired combination — two naturally complementary flavour profiles that elevate one another in ways that few other cask and spirit pairings can. At 60.4% ABV, this is Ardbeg at its most raw and powerful, best approached with a small drop of water to unlock its full complexity.