Ardbeg Auriverdes Gold Edition

You would not think it to see it now, but Ardbeg had a difficult time of it for much of the 20th century. The distillery was bought in a joint venture between Hiram Walker and DCL in 1959, both intending to supply their blends. The subsequent years were very successful, but DCL backed out in 1979 (closing many of their other distilleries a few years later), and Hiram Walker then struggled in the 1980s era oversupply when interest is blended Scotch was waning. They closed it down for the majority of the decade. It re-opened briefly in the 1990s before being revived for good by Glenmorangie plc in 1997.

The Auriverdes was the 2014 Ardbeg Day release, an annual open day which coincides with the Feis Ile festival on Islay, on this occasion the 31st of May.

Auriverdes is a Portuguese term created by the combination of auri, meaning "gold" and verde, meaning "green." The word is commonly used in reference to the national flag, or as a nickname for many of their sports teams on account of their uniforms. Coincidentally, these are also the brand colours of Ardbeg distillery.

A very rare gold bottle, this Auriverdes was never made available to the public. Instead it was only given to journalists, bloggers and distillery ambassadors before the official release at the end of May 2014.