Head to head · same category, comparable price
Ardbeg 10 Year Old vs The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old
They diverge on 3 of our eight axes, most of all peaty, 9 against 0.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Ardbeg 10 Year Old | The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Single malt |
| Origin | Islay, Scotland | Speyside, Scotland |
| Age | 10 years | 12 years |
| Strength | 46% ABV | 43% ABV |
| Cask | Ex-bourbon barrel | Ex-bourbon barrel, Oloroso sherry butt |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £48 | £50 |
| Per 10cl | £6.86 | £7.14 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £149 | £166 |
| Chill-filtered | No | Not stated |
What separates them
Both from Scotland: Ardbeg 10 Year Old from Islay, The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old from Speyside.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old states 12 years, 2 more on paper.
Shared base of ex-bourbon barrel. The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old adds oloroso sherry butt.
Chill filtration: Ardbeg 10 Year Old is not, The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old does not say.
Colour: Ardbeg 10 Year Old natural colour, The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old silent.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old is £2.00 dearer a bottle than Ardbeg 10 Year Old.
Strength keeps that ordering: £149 a litre of pure alcohol for Ardbeg 10 Year Old against £166.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Ardbeg 10 Year Old is 18th cheapest and The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old 22nd cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Ardbeg 10 Year Old | The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 9 | 0 |
| Sweet | 3 | 8 |
| Fruity | 4 | 6 |
| Spicy | 5 | 4 |
| Woody | 4 | 5 |
| Sherried | 1 | 6 |
| Cereal | 4 | 5 |
| Oily | 7 | 6 |
3 of the eight axes clear 3 points; after peaty comes sweet at 3 against 8 and sherried at 1 against 6.
Each bottle in its own right
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 →The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old
Honey, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sweet without being cloying, and 43% helps.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Ardbeg 10 Year Old for first serious peated malt and value at 46%, The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old for gift and after dinner.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Ardbeg 10 Year Old and The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old: ardbeg.com, thebalvenie.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.