Ardbeg Eureka! Was Crafted With the Help of 100 Superfans

Ardbeg’s latest release is a new single malt that pays homage to its most dedicated fans. And it took 100 of them to help narrow down the final blend.

Dubbed Ardbeg Eureka!, the new release is a marriage of two main single malt liquid streams: whisky aged in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, combined with roasted malt aged in ex-bourbon barrels. 

In Eureka!’s case, the whisky’s development is as interesting as the dram itself. In 2023, Ardbeg invited 100 visiting fans — all members of the Ardbeg Committee — to participate in a top-secret tasting panel called Operation Smokescreen. Selected to represent a cross-section of the distillery’s “diverse, global fanbase,” members sampled and gave feedback on five different samples of Ardbeg’s whisky. 

Based on those notes, Dr. Bill Lumsden, director of whisky creation, and master blender Gillian Macdonald challenged themselves to develop a blend reflecting the responses. The final result was bottled at 104.4 proof and affectionately titled Eureka!

“The bouquet of Eureka is quite astonishing, with a plethora of unusual fruity aromas (like cherry and red apple) in amongst all of the earthy peat smoke-derived scents,” says Dr. Bill Lumsden, speaking exclusively to Food & Wine. Dr. Lumsden also serves as Glenmorangie’s director of distillation, whisky creation, and whisky stocks. “The flavors simply explode on the palate, and again there is a curious juxtaposition of flavors — dark fruits (damson and plum), nutty toffee, and chocolate-coated raisins vie with curious savory notes like crispy seaweed and almost ‘sushi-like’ flavors. I guess I love this whisky because it reminds me a lot of my favorite country in the world to visit: Japan.”

Pairing peaty aromas and savory flavors with sweetness is often seen as a hallmark of Ardbeg single malts. According to brand tasting notes, the Eureka! release dials that marriage to new heights with “paradoxically complex flavors of dark chocolate, cinnamon, briny seaweed, and smoke.” Ardbeg’s tasting notes go on to highlight a long, chewy finish rich in toffee, aniseed, coal tar soap, and burning embers. 

Ardbeg Eureka! is hitting shelves in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the “Ardbeg Committee,” an active fan base that helped popularize a distillery once on the brink of closure.

Originally founded in 1815, Ardbeg fell on hard times between the 1980s and 1990s, including the stoppage of production between 1981 and 1989. In 1997, Ardbeg was purchased by The Glenmorangie Company. Today, both the Ardbeg and Glenmorangie distilleries are owned by French luxury behemoth Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH).

In 2000, a group of fans established the Ardbeg Committee to promote and share one of their favorite styles of single malt. (These days, it’s effectively a large, mostly online fan club, though Ardbeg does frequently invite members to participate in in-person events at the distillery and elsewhere.) According to the brand, today, the Committee boasts roughly 200,000 members in over 140 countries. Fans can sign up for free on Ardbeg’s website.

Ardbeg Eureka! is bottled at 52.2% ABV and carries a suggested retail price of $85. It’s available at select retailers in the U.S. and abroad, as well as through ReserveBar.com. A limited number of bottles will be available for sale at Ardbeg’s distillery gift shop.