"The Perfectly Peaty Excuse To Celebrate" - Ardbeg 'Drum'

From Mermaid's to Hippy's and now to the colourful essence of Carnival, Ardbeg really do know how to bring the party spirit to their whisky. Every year to coincide with the final day of the Fèis Ìle on Islay, people from all over the world come together to celebrate alongside Ardbeg, to bring the annual theme to life. Last year Ardbeg called for everyone to dig out their flares and platforms, to celebrate peace and love from the 1960's with their ‘Grooves' release. This year they’re setting sail to the Caribbean to bring the carnival spirit back to Islay. Ardbeg are paying homage to the good old days of the Fèis Ìle, whereby locals would transform any vehicle to hand into floats with flamboyant displays. These would be paraded around the village and up to Ardbeg distillery to be judged. Ardbeg wants to bring back this sense of celebration and carnival to Islay, to celebrate their Festival day this year.

On the 5th March we were blessed with the Committee Release of ‘Ardbeg Drum’. This whisky is the first of its kind for Ardbeg, as it has been matured in ex-bourbon casks before being finished in ex-rum casks from the Americas. This is an exclusive limited edition release for members of the Ardbeg Committee. The regular ‘Ardbeg Drum' expression with a lower alcohol percentage will be released later this year to coincide with Ardbeg’s Fèis Day at the start of June. The flavours of this dram are very fragrant and flamboyant with notes of pineapple and ripe bananas, to name but a few. The tropical fruity tasting notes provide Ardbeg with a fantastic reason to celebrate and what better way to do it than with a carnival.

So it is time to look out your flowers and maracas and join in with the carnival spirit, with a dram of this wonderful whisky in hand!