Ardbeg 'Heavy Vapours' Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Islay, Scotland (750ml)

TASTING NOTES:

A fascinating one from Ardbeg, Heavy Vapours is the Islay distillery's whisky with the gloves taken off. Meaning it was distilled without using Ardbeg’s purifier. Typically, vapours that rise up the still are captured by this piece of equipment, which sits on the lyne arm of Ardbeg’s spirit still. It captures heavier compounds and condenses them, causing them to fall back into the still. The vapours fall back into the still, are heated again, and so rise again. This purifying process is said to bring a floral fruitiness that balances the spirit's powerful peat, but that's been avoided here to bring a more full-throttle Ardbeg whisky, which was bottled without chill-filtration at 46% ABV.