This is my whisky review No. 999, and i offered you that the last 10 critics to reach 1000 were going to be only super memorable drams. This is the case, since not everyday you get to taste a 21 year old single cask Ardbeg, straight from the cask at the distillery, drawn at 49.4%abv, from a second filled bourbon barrel. You have always known, that age statement in whiskies by law, are the age of the youngest drop in the bottle. That is why you have always been told, and maybe you did not believed it, that in some classic blends like Chivas 12yo or Johnnie 12yo, there are older, much older whiskies but the youngest is the twelve year old. Well, let me tell you, this 21yo Ardbeg, which is something quite hard to find, will someday be part of the super standard "Ardbeg Ten". This is one component of the final single malt that is released for $70 pretty much everywhere in the world. That was a very crazy fact the tpur guide told us before pouring this very old juice. On the nose, it was surprisingly fruity. Pineapple, green apple juice and herbal medicine. Sider and a medicinal lotion for skin. Tropical fruits; Sambuca, it is not peaty at all in the first nose and it feels very elegant. Sea water. After a sip, the aroma became like an apple dipped in lotion for burnt skin. Sea water with pineapple and a slight note of tar. Very appealing and complex. Perfect score here. On the palate, fruitiness meets the peat. Grapefruit, apple sider and smoked pineapple. Peppery, gingery, bold but manageable spiciness. Very fresh. The second sip gave me apple and vanilla; Its like bitting a wonderfull tamed peaty green apple. Aftertaste was marvelous. Ashy, fruity, ashy, fruity, smokey, fruity, those are the layers that dance in an unstoppable way. A second sip was all about smokey beautifulness with some fresh fruitiness. So rewarding! Overall, i want you to know, that i have handpicked the last 10 reviews, because in the middle of all this tastings i have had some regular, some good and some excelent whiskies, but i picked the best for this almost natural "top ten" till i reach the 1000 milestone. And i had to clarify that in order to tell you that i am not feeling any placebo effect for having super expensive and crazy rare drams, and that is why i am giving super scores to them. I like to think, that even if i usually give good rates to many of the single malts i taste (because i am such a whisky lover), i always try to be as objective as i can be. Having said all that, it is obvious now, that i have a perfect score for this beauty. This is really the heart of what this distillery can achieve in a single cask, for 21 long years. Where were you two decades ago, when the youngest drop entered the cask for maturation? I was starting law school. Almost all my adult life has passed for me to drink this as my whisky 999, and i believe that to be memorable. My score for it is 100 over 100. Slàinte!