Ardbeg is a distillery with a long history. The most eastern of the Kildalton distilleries along Islay’s south coast, it was founded in 1815 and until the end of the 20th century it ran without much incident. However, the downturns of the 1980s and 90s both hit the distillery, causing it to close twice across those decades. However, in 1997, Glenmorangie stepped and bought the then-closed distillery, and the current revival began.

The launch of the flagship Ardbeg 10 Year Old in 2000 was first major step in this process, and since then a small but influential range of whiskies has followed. Dr Bill Lumsden has been the distillery's curator since shortly after it joined the Glenmorangie portfolio and, along with his team, has created one of the strongest line-ups of whisky anywhere in Scotland.

In this tasting, Bill will dive into the distillery’s range. He’ll go behind the scenes with favourites old and new, as well as trying some recent releases and something special that Bill’s been working on in his lab…