Ardbeg Ard Bog from the Great Whisky Swindle of 1990s

Okay, prepare for a wild tale. In the 1990s, when whiskey investments were soaring, so were the scammers. This is the story of Pearldene and Hamilton Spirit Management, a Gibraltar firm that peddled nonexistent "Grandtully" and "Gleneagles" distillery casks, pocketing at least 1.7 million pounds from a phony whisky scheme. When authorities caught on, the criminals tried to cover their tracks by sending bottles from real distilleries to defrauded investors. The Scottish Whisky Association intercepted these mislabeled bottles (the liquid was genuine, just not from the advertised distilleries) and relabeled them correctly, allowing investors to recover some actual whisky. I got my hands on one of these bottles, an ARDBEG called Ard Bog, number 28 of 377 from the "GREAT WHISKY SWINDLE" of the 90s. It's a genuine piece of history, bottled at 46% ABV. This 10-year-old expression dates back to the 1990s, before Louis Vuitton owned the distillery. It has a pale straw color. On the nose, this is a really intriguing spirit. It kicks off with an intense aroma of old cotton socks, vegetation, moss, and dust. It smells like a hospital, with creolin and medicinal notes, alongside Converse sneakers, strong black pepper, and limoncello. After a taste, the scent transforms into oysters, oregano, vanilla ice cream, and brie cheese. It even has an air freshener quality. Truly amazing and bizarre stuff. On the palate, it's delightful. A perfect blend of vanilla ice cream and black pepper. It has a cotton-like texture. My second sip revealed white chocolate, apricot, and some seaside notes. It's both sweet and salty. The finish is also wonderful. Sawdust, black pepper, mint, and salt. An incredibly long aftertaste. Overall, this was a superb Ardbeg, essentially a 10-year-old from 33 years ago. It's incredibly well-rounded, heavily peated, with astonishing aromas and flavors. I genuinely feel Ardbeg was superior back then, especially compared to recent releases that seem to lack depth. I'm giving this beauty a score of 92 out of 100, and the backstory is utterly captivating.