Kildalton 22y/o 2003 (Ardbeg) 2nd Fill Barrel Whiskyland Chapter Twenty 53.7%ABV 15ml / 30ml

An exceptional bottling from Decadent drinks. After the Whisky Sponge series ended, the Whiskyland series began. There are 100 bottles planned - every 10th chapter n the series is meant to be extra special - 1 and 10 were pretty special - Springbank and Laphroaig - Here is Chapter 20 - a Kidalton A.K.A. Ardbeg.

Notes from the bottler:

"One moment you're zipping through the dramstream, the next you're here, boots crunching on a salted path, flanked by outdated QR codes and the faded slogans of once-hopeful NAS releases. The sea stands erect. In the sky, an ambient loop called "Weather" plays.

In Whiskyland, every tenth chapter marks a moment of interruption. A pause. A sip that doesn't simply follow; it interrupts. Chapter ten was a 26-year-old Laphroaig: full of peat, memories, and slight side effects. It was so atmospherically dense that it had to be bottled under supervision. Chapter twenty, however, is different. Less fire. More gravity. Less cathedral. More monolith. You reach the cask without incident. It stands alone on a podium of used tasting notes and recycled staves. No spotlight. No pedestal. Just a small plaque that reads:

Kildalton Malt 2003/2025, 22 Years, Refill, 53.7%

No finish. No tampering. No narrative distortion.

Approach with respect and calibrated taste buds.

You do it. You pour. You analyze:

On the nose: brine, burnt rope, black pepper and bureaucratic peat that smells like someone tried to tax it.

On the palate: salt, iodine, fermented fermentation, pickled spiciness, faint herbal notes. The finish is long, like a whispered legal clause. The whisky outlives its creator. No tweaks. No taste algorithms. Just time, oak, and a distillate reminiscent of how whisky behaved before the invention of the tasting wheel."