Ardbeg 21 Years Old 2000 Cask #3460 (Ex Bourbon)

Cask #3460 carries Ardbeg's original warehouse cask numbering, distinguishing this release from the curated low number series (cask #2, #10, #86 and so on) that uses sequential labelling for selected single casks. The distillery operates two parallel single cask tracks: the standard Distillery Single Cask programme using warehouse numbers, and the curated Single Cask series with sequential numbering for individually selected or commemorative releases.

Filled into refill American oak bourbon cask in 2000 and matured on Islay for twenty one years across the 2004 LVMH transition and into the modern era. Bottled at 50.9% ABV, non chill filtered with no added colour. The 50.9% reading after two decades is typical for refill bourbon in the maritime warehouse cycle, with steady ethanol loss to evaporation under high atmospheric humidity.

Refill bourbon casks deliver gentler oak extraction than first fill, allowing the spirit character to carry through longer maturation without becoming wood dominated. Cis and trans oak lactones build coconut and oiled wood at moderate intensity, while modern Ardbeg's 50 to 55 ppm phenol load preserves guaiacol, syringol and 4 methylguaiacol smoke at strong intensity. The Ardbeg purifier ester signature persists across twenty one years as concentrated pineapple, lemon and ripe melon, the distillery's spirit still fingerprint expressed across long Islay maturation in refill American oak.