A ‘what-if’ experiment shines a light on what defines Ardbeg whisky

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Distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden is known for pushing the boundaries to create new whiskies for Ardbeg and Glenmorangie. During his tenure, a small amount of Ardbeg has orbited the planet on the International Space Station before touching back down to earth in Kazakhstan in September 2014. More recently, two casks of Ardbeg’s famously smoky Islay malt were buried in a peat bog for nearly three years before being dug up and released as its first single malt whisky NFT, Ardbeg Fon Fhòid, in 2022.

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“Success breeds demand for more success, which then breeds demand for even more success,” says Lumsden, Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation & Whisky Stocks for Glenmorangie and Ardbeg, where he has worked since 1998. “20 odd years on from me first taking on this job and the demand for new products is insatiable now. I understand that it’s a positive challenge, but it’s probably the biggest challenge I have these days.”

Lumsden’s solution is to “try lots and lots and lots of different things.” Not every experiment turns out, he acknowledges. “But most of them do end up giving you something which is a little bit different and of interest to Ardbeg fans.”

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Ardbeg Heavy Vapours is the latest experimental release. Launched as part of the marketing efforts surrounding Ardbeg Day on June 3, it joins a lineup of limited-edition releases that dates to the first Ardbeg Day in 2012. (The festivities grew out of the distillery’s traditional open house celebration conducted on the last Saturday of The Islay Festival, Fèlis Ìle.) This year’s edition is accompanied by a graphic novel, Rise of the Heavy Vapours, by artist and illustrator Dilraj Mann.

Ardbeg distillery was purchased and reopened by The Glenmorangie Company in 1997. The two popular whisky makers were acquired by French drinks company Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy in 2004.

The inspiration for Heavy Vapours came from Lumsden’s inquisitive nature. “It’s an experiment — a ‘what if’ sort of thing,” says Lumsden. As a scientist and a distillery, he was driven to discover what gave Ardbeg its unique characteristics. It’s well-known as a heavily-peated whisky, but so are the expressions from neighbouring distilleries Lagavulin and Laphroaig in Port Ellen, which have different flavour profiles.

Having a purifier as part of a still is relatively rare in Scotland. Lumsden decided to remove the purifier from the spirit still to see what the new make spirit would taste like without the copper piece that helps to balance the bold peat and floral fruitiness traditionally found in Ardbeg’s popular 10-Year-Old single malt. A coppersmith was called in, who disconnected the purifier from the spirit still. The distillery worked without that piece of equipment for one week before returning to proper working order. The notion was that a more robust and heavy spirit would be created.

“We created some spirit which answered my question,” Lumsden explains. “And the answer is, yes, the purifier unquestionably adds a degree of finesse, and a degree of complexity to the characteristics of Ardbeg spirit. Without it, the spirit we created was quite brutal. You know, some people might say, Ardbeg is quite brutal anyway.”

That unique spirit was aged in used bourbon barrels before bottling. The idea was to have Heavy Vapours act as a comparison to the standard Ardbeg 10-Year-Old single malt. “You are creating a halo effect with it,” Lumsden says. “I always encourage people to try these limited releases with Ardbeg 10 Year Old. I know that there will be a lot of people who actually prefer the 10-Year-Old, and that’s fine. You’re allowed to have a preference. And, for what it’s worth, I actually prefer the 10-Year-Old… that’s the classic, that’s our flagship product. Without that, this brand wouldn’t exist.”

Heavy Vapours is currently available in British Columbia for $195.99. It will be releasing across the rest of Canada beginning in June.