Ardbeg’s Travel Retail series takes an adventurous new turn with its floral and smoky third release, Ardbeg Smoketrails Napa Valley Edition.
This intensely fragrant whisky is the latest limited edition in the Islay Distillery’s Duty Free collection, which invites globetrotting whisky fans to discover how casks from around the world influence Ardbeg’s signature peaty style. The first Ardbeg to marry bourbon casks with Cabernet Sauvignon red wine casks from California’s Napa Valley, it has already been recognised with a prestigious industry award.
For previous Smoketrails editions, Ardbeg’s whisky creators have hopped across Europe from the Distillery’s Scottish island home to source Manzanilla sherry casks from Spain and Côte Rôtie wine casks from France. To create the series’ latest release, they voyaged to the prestigious wine region Napa Valley – where the Cabernet Sauvignon grape is king. The rich, red wines it produces are prized for their complex fruity and floral flavours.
Rarely used at Ardbeg, Cabernet Sauvignon casks proved an ideal travelling companion for classic bourbon-aged Ardbeg on its journey to maturation. Married together, these casks unite scents of rose water, smoked plums, and jasmine with more familiar Ardbeggian notes of baking bread and menthol. The Edition’s unique flavour profile immediately captivated judges at the Spirits Business Travel Retail Masters awards 2024, where the whisky achieved a coveted Master Medal.
Ardbeg’s Master Blender Gillian Macdonald said: “For each release in our Smoketrails series the task of our Whisky Creation Team, led by Dr Bill Lumsden, is to hunt out casks which take Ardbeg on a journey into the unknown. And for the Ardbeg Smoketrails Napa Valley Edition, we have unearthed something very special. By marrying Cabernet Sauvignon wine casks with classic Ardbeg, we’ve created a deeply floral and fragrant whisky, the like of which travellers will not have tasted before. Its distinctive blush colour leads into floral aromas such as rose water and jasmine. Then tastes of smoked plums, espresso coffee and eucalyptus come to the fore. It is an Ardbeggian adventure in a bottle.”
Available in one-litre bottles, Ardbeg Smoketrails Napa Valley Edition launched exclusively from January 2025 in key international airports. A limited number of bottles will also be available at the Distillery Visitor Centre on Islay – the ultimate tourist destination.
For more news on this series and all things Ardbeg, smoky malt whisky fans can join the Ardbeg Committee at Ardbeg.com/committee. Membership is free, and all Ardbeg fans are welcome.
