Head to head · same category, comparable price
Aberlour A'bunadh vs Ardbeg 10 Year Old
They diverge on 4 of our eight axes, most of all peaty, 0 against 9.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Aberlour A'bunadh | Ardbeg 10 Year Old | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Single malt |
| Origin | Speyside, Scotland | Islay, Scotland |
| Age | No age statement | 10 years |
| Strength | Not published | 46% ABV |
| Cask | Oloroso sherry butt | Ex-bourbon barrel |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £70 | £48 |
| Per 10cl | £10 | £6.86 |
| Per litre of alcohol | — | £149 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | No |
What separates them
Both from Scotland: Aberlour A'bunadh from Speyside, Ardbeg 10 Year Old from Islay.
Ardbeg 10 Year Old states 10 years; Aberlour A'bunadh states none.
Cask as each producer describes it: Aberlour A'bunadh in oloroso sherry butt, Ardbeg 10 Year Old in ex-bourbon barrel.
Chill filtration: Aberlour A'bunadh does not say, Ardbeg 10 Year Old is not.
Colour: Aberlour A'bunadh silent, Ardbeg 10 Year Old natural colour.
What the price buys
Aberlour A'bunadh is £22 dearer a bottle than Ardbeg 10 Year Old.
Aberlour A'bunadh publishes no strength, so we will not cost it per litre of alcohol.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Aberlour A'bunadh | Ardbeg 10 Year Old |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 9 |
| Sweet | 8 | 3 |
| Fruity | 7 | 4 |
| Spicy | 6 | 5 |
| Woody | 6 | 4 |
| Sherried | 9 | 1 |
| Cereal | 5 | 4 |
| Oily | 9 | 7 |
4 of the eight axes clear 3 points; after peaty comes sherried at 9 against 1, sweet at 8 against 3 and fruity at 7 against 4.
Each bottle in its own right
Aberlour A'bunadh
Enormous sherried fruit at cask strength. Batch to batch it moves, which is the point.
We publish no ABV because there isn't one: A'bunadh is released in sequential batches, each bottled at its own cask strength, and Aberlour states only 'cask strength' with no number. Any single ABV you see quoted for it is batch-specific. A'bunadh means 'the original' in Gaelic.
Full record →Ardbeg 10 Year Old
Tar, lime and soot, then a long smoked-vanilla finish. Bracing rather than comfortable.
Ardbeg's own page states the whisky is matured solely in ex-bourbon casks and is non-chill filtered, with no sherry component at all — unusual for a flagship Islay malt. It is bottled at 46% where most competitors at the price sit at 40%.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Aberlour A'bunadh for cask strength and sherry bombs, Ardbeg 10 Year Old for first serious peated malt and value at 46%.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Aberlour A'bunadh and Ardbeg 10 Year Old: aberlour.com, ardbeg.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.