2017 Ardbeg Day release - Ardbeg Kelpie? TimeforWhisky's prediction from 12 months ago coming true?

Just over a year ago, after a lunch with Dr Bill Lumsden we broke the exclusive news that Ardbeg had been playing with Russian Oak, and that we could see the result turn into a future release, perhaps for Ardbeg Day:

"...oh, and about a little experiment Dr Bill is in the middle of, involving Ardbeg aged in Russian Oak. Although coy on the details (when asked for his thoughts on the impact Russian Oak has on the spirit, he said to ask again in 2 years), Dr Bill did suggest that the project (codenamed "Ardbeg KGB" within the distillery), could well be a future Ardbeg Day release. We've seen "Islalympics" (2012), Archaelogy (2013), Soccer World Cup (2014) and Space (2015) as themes, so can we expect to see a Russian-themed Ardbeg Day in the near future? Perhaps."

Fast forward 12 months, and it seems like our prediction may come true in 2017, with these label renderings surfacing today (found in the US TTB database, and flagged to us by good mate The Whisky Ledger):

Now just because Moët Hennessy have filed a few images with the TTB, that doesn't automatically mean we'll see the whisky released, but in the past their database has been a relatively reliable source of information, and the timing seems to line up based on our 2015 discussion with Dr Bill, when he suggested the Russian Oak experiment wasn't quite ready, and to "ask again in 2 years".

If this is indeed going to be a future release, we could see a similar approach to this year's Dark Cove, with a Committee release at a higher ABV (51.7% if the label above is to be believed) and a lower strength "general release".

Whatever the case, it gives us something to speculate over for a little while (whilst we wait to see if that 21 year old Ardbeg actually gets released). I for one would very much love to try a Russian oak-aged Ardbeg!

Cheers,
Martin.

PS: As much as we wanted the label to feature an Australian Kelpie, in this case we suspect the name refers to the mythical Scottish horse-like creature.