Ardbeg Smokiverse is a boundary-pushing experiment born from high gravity mashing – a first for the distillery, and a bold leap into the unknown for Ardbeg Day 2025.

As the Ardbeg Committee celebrates its 25th anniversary, the distillery’s mash tun has been pushed to galactic extremes. The team created a dense, flavour-rich wort with an astronomical original gravity by dialling down the water and ramping up the grain in the mash. The result? A fruitier, sweeter, and astonishingly intense Ardbeg – like someone turned the flavour dial to eleven and hurled it into orbit.

The high gravity approach magnifies fruity acetate esters during fermentation, producing a richer style of new make spirit that carries through to the final whisky. Smokiverse was then matured in classic bourbon casks to let the amplified spirit shine, layering bold fruitiness with sweet smoke, toasted grains, and that signature Ardbeg earthiness.

This is Ardbeg at its most experimental – a dram with monumental density, a swirling vortex of sweetness and smoke, and a fitting tribute to 25 years of Committee-fuelled madness.

Strap in. The Smokiverse awaits.

Tasting Profile

• Nose- An explosion of fruity, estery notes, reminiscent of smoked bubblegum, fuse with whiffs of ripening barley and toasted sourdough bread. A splash of water reveals dense, sweet, and aromatic peat smoke, accompanied by gently smoked tropical fruits.
• Palate- A rich, creamy mouthfeel drifts into sharp, sooty and spicy notes of creosote, aniseed, and clove. Tempered by the distinct sweetness of muscovado sugar, robust woody notes orbit rich charcoal.
• Finish- Finally, in an almost infinite finish, earthy peat moss fuses with sizzling bonfire embers.

Production Details

• High-Gravity Mashing: This innovative process uses more grist (ground malted barley) and less water in the mash tun, resulting in a denser, sugar-rich wort. 
• Fermentation & Ester Development: The denser wort leads to a more concentrated mash, enhancing the formation of flavor-active compounds, particularly acetate esters, for a fruitier spirit.
• Cask Maturation: The concentrated spirit is matured exclusively in former American oak ex-Bourbon barrels. 
• Bottling: The whisky is bottled at a specific gravity of 48.3% ABV. 
• Non-Chill Filtered & Natural Color: The bottling is non-chill filtered and retains its natural color, preserving its complex flavors. 

Maturation

• Cask type: The whisky was matured exclusively in ex-bourbon American oak casks. This was done to allow the new spirit's intense fruitiness to shine, complemented by the classic bourbon cask notes.
• Duration: According to Ardbeg's Director of Distilling, Dr. Bill Lumsden, the whisky was matured for "almost eleven years".
• Filtration: The final product is non-chill filtered and bottled at its natural color.

Distillation and Fermentation

• Malting: Like other Ardbeg whiskies, Smokiverse uses malted barley that is heavily peated, resulting in a phenolic content of around 50 parts per million (ppm).
• Distillation: The spirit was twice-distilled using Ardbeg's unique spirit still, which features a "purifier" on the lyne arm. This piece of equipment provides extra reflux, helping to create a balanced spirit even with the heavily peated malt. 

Product specifications

• Alcohol by volume (ABV): 48.3% ABV.
• Appearance: Bright gold.
• Availability: A limited edition release for Ardbeg Day 2025.
• Packaging: The bottle features a sci-fi-inspired label.