For twenty years, Ardbeg fans around the world had one wish: bring back the Ardbeg 10 Year Old at cask strength. In 2026, that wish was finally granted — and the result, bottled at 61.7% ABV, is the highest-strength Committee Release in Ardbeg’s history.
A Legend Restored
The original Ardbeg 10 Cask Strength was released in Japan in 2003, promptly became a legend, and then disappeared for two decades. When the 2026 edition was announced, it sold out in 19 minutes. At 61.7%, it is the most powerful Committee Release Ardbeg has ever bottled — but power alone doesn’t describe it. Matured in bourbon casks, the spirit carries extraordinary depth and complexity beneath the intensity. The peat and the fruit hold each other in Ardbeg’s signature paradox: simultaneously wild and refined, smoky and sweet.
Official Tasting Notes
Nose: Tar, sea spray, toffee, smoked sweetness — an Islay coastline in a glass.
Palate: Smoked cinnamon, spice-driven sweetness, tar, peat moss, bonfire wood, toasted biscuit.
Finish: Eucalyptus freshness. Add a few drops of water and vanilla, lime and a glowing campfire emerge.
Mika’s Perspective
My first overseas distillery visit was Ardbeg — Islay, 2009. Bar Little Happiness had just moved. Money was extremely tight. I went anyway, walked into a distillery mid-renovation, and fell in love with a bottle: Lord of the Isles. I brought it back not knowing who would drink it. Eventually it sold — slowly, over years — and I kept only the empty box. It still sits in the corner of the bar today. Every time I see it, I remember that version of myself who made that stretch.
Now, this cask strength edition has arrived. Ardbeg 10 at full power, 20 years after the original. For anyone who loves Islay whisky at its most honest — nothing diluted, nothing softened — this is it.
Available at Bar Little Happiness by the glass, and in small-bottle format for takeaway. Read the original Japanese column: https://little-happiness.jp/columns/ardbeg-10y-cask-strength/
Bar Little Happiness | Hiroshima, Japan
Rum & Whisky specialists | 1,000+ bottles | English menu available
Open Mon–Sat 7PM–12:30AM, Sun 7PM–midnight
No cover charge. Walk-ins welcome.
english.little-happiness.jp