Wink & Nod Celebrates Ardbeg Day with the World’s Best Single Malt

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On May 31, Wink & Nod, ye of the Billionaire’s Bijou, will once again delve into its cabinet of extravagant spirits in honor of Ardbeg Whisky Day. What, you’ve never heard of Ardbeg Day? Well, it’s like national cheese souffle day (May 18), national pecan sandy day (June 23), or national chocolate pecan pie day (August 20), except with an extremely rare 12-year-old single malt scotch ranked as the world’s best.

Starting at 5 p.m., General manager Curtis McMillan will crack open a four-liter bottle of Ardbeg Galileo and honor the renowned Islay distiller either with a straight-up Glencairn pour (around three ounces) or in a special cocktail he’s named the Peaty Pete. Designed to highlight the flavors of the hard-to-find scotch, the Peaty Pete combines allspice dram, fresh lemon juice, maraschino liqueur, and the star of the show, the Ardbeg Galileo.

“The richly perfumed allspice dram complements the scotch’s spicy notes and balances out the peaty smoke,” McMillan says. “The bright lemon juice brings out the Galileo’s citrusy nose, and maraschino liqueur rounds out the mix with a hint of delicate sweetness.”

Named after the father of modern astronomy, the Galileo was produced to commemorate Ardbeg’s participation in a unique space program studying the impact of zero gravity on the maturation of spirits. Ardbeg Galileo isn’t the actual whisky that was shot into space in late 2011—that whisky is currently being studied by researchers after spending two years at the International Space Station— but a similar distillate laid down in 1999 on former bourbon and Marsala wine casks. In 2012, the 12-year-old won World’s Best in the Single Malt category at the World Whiskies Awards.

$11 per pour, 5 p.m. – 12 a.m., 3 Appleton St, Boston; 617-482-0117 or winkandnod.com.