Ardbeg Islay distillery is releasing a limited edition bottling called Scorch. Scorch is matured in heavily charred ex-bourbon barrels, a play to the distillery’s “true myth” of the resident Islay dragon that is said to dwell in Dunnage Warehouse No. 3. The heavily charred barrels are the work of the dragon’s “fiery exhale.” This fiery release is in honor of Ardbeg Day, the distillery’s annual celebration. On June 5th, 2021, the event will go down as part of Islay’s Festival of Music and Malt (Fèis Ìle). This year’s event will be like last year’s event and still take place online.
Scorch will be released to the public in June 2021, but members of the Ardbeg Committee (group of over 100,000 fans of the Ardbeg distillery) will have access to the Committee Release version earlier, May 1st. The Committee release will be a higher price MSRP, but also a higher ABV bottling. The Committee version comes in at a 51.7% ABV and has an MSRP of $139 per bottle. The official release of the Scorch is in June. It will be bottled at 46% ABV and have a slightly lower MSRP of $119 per bottle.