Scotland, Isle of Islay. Distillery operational. Owner: LVMH - Diageo

Founded in 1815 by McDougall & Co. in the south-east of Islay, near the Kildalton Cross, Ardbeg's malt was for a long time overshadowed by its neighbours and competitors Lagavulin and Laphroaig.It was under the patronage of the McDonald family (Glenmorangie Plc), who bought the distillery in 1997, that it was able to develop its potential and introduce the public to the treasures sleeping in its vaults. Between September and November 1997, no less than three bottlings - two of which would become great classics - were released on the market, the Ardbeg 17 Year Old, Ardbeg 1978 and Ardbeg Provenance 1974. The following decade was rich in single cask, cask strength bottlings matured in sherry and bourbon casks, each more impressive than the next. And it was dressed in a new green bottle with confident Celtic-Gothic aesthetics that Ardbeg flooded the market for fans of malts dominated by aromas of smoke, peat and tiger balm.

An Ardbeg 10 year old distilled in 1991 and bottled at cask strength in 2001 for the Natural Malt Selection by Acorn, a Japanese independent bottler based in Sakado, in Saitama Prefecture. Acorn was founded in 1996 by Seishi Tsuta, a former employee of Oddbins in the United Kingdom who also spent ten years working for a Japanese whisky and wine specialist. The business really began the following year and the first bottlings were released in 1999. In 2014, Tsuta opened the Whisky Plus store in Toshima (Tokyo).