| Renaissance Continued (2011)
Disclaimer: This is NOT an official Ardbeg bottle...see story below!!!
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Expression:
Renaissance Continued
ABV:
55.3%
Original Ardbeg Expression:
Renaissance
ABV:
55.9%
Year altered:
2011
Bottle Size:
70cl
Number of Bottles:
7
Bottled for:
Private
Box:
None
Insert/Booklet:
None
Distribution:
Finland
Confirmed Markets:
Finland
Distributors:
Private
Front Label Varieties:
Renaissance Continued
Back Label Varieties:
Unknown
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Here is a short story of the "Renaissance Continued", as told by the creator, Mika.
It started in the summer of 2010 when i purchased a small, approximately 5 liter charred cask. I then of course had to fill it with water for a few days to make sure it wasn't leaking and let it swell for awhile. After filling and testing with water, it was then filled with some sherry.
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I filled it with 2 bottles of Gonzales Byass NOE 30y Pedro Ximenez and the balance with Gonzales Byass Solera 1847 Oloroso Dulce.
By this time I noticed it was a bit bigger than 5 liters. I had the cask sitting in my friends root cellar, which has a nice cold, damp climate. The sherry then was left in the cask for a period of 4 weeks, constantly sampling it, making sure nothing was going wrong with it. After that we poured the sherry out and filled it with Laphroaig Cask Strength Batch 1. We poured in 7 full bottles + about 2/3 of a bottle, which was then left at the cellar in the cask for just 3 weeks. We bottled it on 1.9.2010 as a Batch 1.1, with 7 bottles coming out of the cask. This experiment turned out great!
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Now I was ready for the main event, something that had been in my mind for awhile... Doing the same for Ardbeg Renaissance!
A week after we had bottled the Laphroaig, I poured some of the same sherries back in the cask, topping it off with the GB Solera 1847 Oloroso Dulce. This time I let the sherry sit there a bit longer, for about 6 months. Now I had the cask also sitting on my bar counter, which had me a bit worried about the possible evaporation this time around.
On March 20th 2011 the sherry was removed and the cask filled with 7 + bottles of Ardbeg Renaissance. At the beginning there was not much happening with the whisky, no major evaporation, just some minor colour and flavour changes probably due to the long period of sherry infusion and the fact that sherry came out and whisky went in, with no time for the cask to dry in between the fillings. After about a month there was starting to be some real change in colour and flavour, but still no major evaporation? Then on 28th June 2011, after just over 3 months I bottled the Renaissance "Continued", with the cask pouring out 7 bottles!!! And the end result being just GREAT... :)
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| Here is a picture of the final product, with custom label made by the creator.
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