Ardbeg 12 Years Old 2011 Cask #2464 (1st Fill Manzanilla)

A Swedish market exclusive Ardbeg from cask #2464, a first fill manzanilla sherry butt. Manzanilla is fino sherry produced specifically in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on the Atlantic coast of Andalucía, where the maritime climate creates a thicker flor yeast layer and a distinctly saline edge to the wine compared with fino aged inland at Jerez. Manzanilla casks are unusual in Ardbeg's modern warehouse and bring a distinctive coastal fingerprint to the spirit.

Filled on 5 September 2011 into a first fill manzanilla butt and matured on Islay for twelve years before bottling on 23 October 2023 at 58.2% ABV. Non chill filtered with no added colour, 624 bottles drawn at natural strength. The 600 litre Spanish butt format slows extraction across long maturation while loading the spirit with first fill sherry chemistry.

Manzanilla casks contribute a chemistry shaped by Atlantic coastal flor ageing: residual flor metabolites including acetaldehyde and salt concentrated by evaporation during sherry production. Layered onto the Spanish oak polyphenols (gallic acid, ellagic acid) and modern Ardbeg's 50 to 55 ppm peat phenols (guaiacol, syringol, 4 methylguaiacol), the manzanilla chemistry shifts the smoke register toward salted almond, marine brine, bitter green olive and grilled lemon. The Ardbeg purifier ester signature delivers concentrated citrus and tropical fruit beneath the saline sherry character, a distinctive expression rarely seen in the modern Distillery Single Cask programme.