Head to head · same category, comparable price
Ardbeg 10 Year Old vs Laphroaig Quarter Cask
No flavour axis separates them, so the difference on record is disclosure: Ardbeg 10 Year Old states 10 years, Laphroaig Quarter Cask states no age.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Ardbeg 10 Year Old | Laphroaig Quarter Cask | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Single malt |
| Origin | Islay, Scotland | Islay, Scotland |
| Age | 10 years | No age statement |
| Strength | 46% ABV | 48% ABV |
| Cask | Ex-bourbon barrel | Ex-bourbon barrel, American oak quarter cask |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £48 | £44 |
| Per 10cl | £6.86 | £6.29 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £149 | £131 |
| Chill-filtered | No | Not stated |
What separates them
Both Islay whiskies, from different distilleries.
Ardbeg 10 Year Old states 10 years; Laphroaig Quarter Cask states none.
Shared base of ex-bourbon barrel. Laphroaig Quarter Cask adds american oak quarter cask.
Chill filtration: Ardbeg 10 Year Old is not, Laphroaig Quarter Cask does not say.
Colour: Ardbeg 10 Year Old natural colour, Laphroaig Quarter Cask silent.
Laphroaig Quarter Cask: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Ardbeg 10 Year Old is £4.00 dearer a bottle than Laphroaig Quarter Cask.
Strength keeps that ordering: £131 a litre of pure alcohol for Laphroaig Quarter Cask against £149.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Ardbeg 10 Year Old is 18th cheapest and Laphroaig Quarter Cask 12th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Ardbeg 10 Year Old | Laphroaig Quarter Cask |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 9 | 9 |
| Sweet | 3 | 4 |
| Fruity | 4 | 3 |
| Spicy | 5 | 6 |
| Woody | 4 | 6 |
| Sherried | 1 | 1 |
| Cereal | 4 | 4 |
| Oily | 7 | 8 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is woody, 4 against 6.
Identical on peaty, sherried and cereal.
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 →Laphroaig Quarter Cask
Laphroaig with the volume up — more oak, more sweetness, considerably more grip at 48%.
Double matured: standard ex-bourbon barrels, then re-racked into smaller quarter casks whose greater wood-to-spirit surface area speeds maturation. Laphroaig publishes no ABV, and one UK retailer lists 41.4% — that is a data error; 48% is confirmed by two independent retailers.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Ardbeg 10 Year Old for first serious peated malt and value at 46%, Laphroaig Quarter Cask for value at 48% and peat lovers.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Ardbeg 10 Year Old and Laphroaig Quarter Cask: ardbeg.com, laphroaig.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.