Ardbeg 15 Years Old 2008 Cask #2310048 (Murray McDavid)

Cask #2310048 is the sister cask to #2310047, with consecutive fill numbers from the same 2008 Ardbeg distillation cohort indicating side by side maturation across fifteen years before parallel release in 2024 through different Murray McDavid programmes. Cask #2310048 channels through Mission Gold (the bottler's flagship single cask range) while #2310047 was released through The Art of Maturation finishing programme.

Filled in 2008 during the modern Glenmorangie owned production era and matured on Islay for fifteen years. Bottled in 2024 at 57.7% ABV, non chill filtered with no added colour. The 57.7% reading is marginally higher than sister cask #2310047 (57.4%), demonstrating typical cask variation across consecutive fills.

Fifteen years of refill American oak maturation builds developed mid age expression. Cis and trans oak lactones (coconut, oiled wood) build at expressive concentration, hemicellulose breakdown furans (furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural) deliver caramel and toasted almond, and lignin vanillin and syringaldehyde layer vanilla and baking spice. The modern Glenmorangie spec peat phenols (guaiacol, syringol, 4 methylguaiacol, p cresol) carry strong intensity at this age, delivering classic Ardbeg phenolic smoke. The Ardbeg purifier ester signature delivers concentrated pineapple, lemon and tropical fruit beneath the integrated phenolic core.