Review 216: Ardbeg Ardbog

Review 216

7/1/14

Ardbeg Ardbog: 52.1% abv

Background: Here’s another Ardbeg for the peat lovers out there. Very lovingly named Ardbog, this whisky is another statement from the Islay powerhouse that introduces a different style into the mix. Oddly enough, although you won’t see it on the front of the bottle, the back of the bottle drops a hint that this whisky is 10 years of age. Maybe the expensive tag on this bottle doesn’t sound 10 Year-like? Another unique thing about this whisky that sets it apart is that all of those ten years are spent in ex-Manzanilla sherry casks. Although we have tried a lot of sherried whiskies, Manzanilla is a sweeter, less frequently used variant that has yet to find its way in one of our reviews. A theme of the Ardbog is to emphasize the historical relevance of peat, which explains the surplus of fossils and random artifacts presented on the packaging. Apparently, if you drank Ardbeg during that History final, you might not have failed. In any case, Ardbeg has been active in releasing limited edition variants and now we have to find out if it’s worth your limited budget.

Straight

Nose: Although the nose is initially pretty overbearing, there are some interesting notes that come out without water. There is a grilling smoke smell that emanates from the glass, with savory, meaty flavors present up front. This includes campfire wood and sweet maple. This whisky is in essence completely reminiscent of a family camping trip up north. There is some sweet apple on the nose, with brown sugar and candied bacon also adding sweetness. The sherry presents itself on the nose with a molasses-like, concentrated Cognac and rum smell. There is a tinge of spice in the nose, but it is very subtle. There is also a light cigar aroma in the whisky. Ultimately, the nose is very dense and rewarding, but it can be challenging to extract flavors with the high alcohol.   

Arrival: The arrival is spicy, syrupy, and doesn’t hold back on the peat. There is a really concentrated peat and ash flavor, complimented by the subtle sweetness of the Manzanilla sherry. The spice is close to clove and black pepper. There is some black tea flavor that comes through as well, but it is hard to pick up too much due to the high concentration of alcohol. There is some molasses in the arrival.

Body: The body carries the peaty, ashy flavor from before, but also takes on some salty, briny character in the whisky which is very enjoyable. Salt water is present, but there are also a high level of tannins as well.

Finish: The finish is fantastically peaty, with a strong, dry tobacco and ash finish. There is a grainy character as well, but it is very limited. There is certainly alcohol heat present, and drives a quick finish. The sweetness is not substantial through the finish.

With Water

Nose: The nose certainly doesn’t become tame with a few drops of water. It is very lively still, but reveals some desired complexity in maltiness, light cinnamon and brown sugar, sea salt and

Arrival: The arrival is more pleasant after adding water. Clove, nutmeg and cinnamon become pretty dominant in the arrival, with tea leaves and dried nuts also present.

Body: There is a lot more spice in the body after adding water. The wood is very dominant, and there is dry vegetal notes that take place in the whisky. The peat is very strong in the body, and it tends to be a bit more aggressive after adding water, where the alcohol isn’t just covering the smokey character.

Finish:  The finish still remains relatively bitter, taking on the tobacco, tea leaves, slight sherry and woody notes to it. The whisky is slightly leathery, and the vegetal notes from the body carry into the finish. The finish offers up some complexity in tarry, medicinal notes. Some of the phenolic character is very strongly present in the finish, and dwells.

Final Comments: Admittedly, this is a very tough one for KCM. This whisky has challenging aspects to it, and it presents itself as a very dense whisky, but I can’t seem to avoid the fact that this is lacking in some complexity. When I compare this to Uigeadail, it doesn’t really compare, in all honesty. It is a good whisky, and I really enjoy drinking it. In fact, it grew on me. I was initially pretty disappointed with it, admittedly, but it still lacks in some spark. I don’t believe a fan of sherried peated Scotches would really frown on this bottle, but I just fail to want to pick this over the standard offering. That being said, it wouldn’t hurt somebody to try this whisky, and if you’re a fan of Ardbeg, this isn’t far outside the range of accessible whiskies.

Why you’d buy it: You like the monster peat, high proof stuff, and Laphroaig isn’t your style.

                                                                                                          

Why you wouldn’t: Ardbeg Uigeadail

Score:  8.5/10

Review 169: Ardbeg 10 Year

Review 169

7/10/13

Ardbeg 10 Year: 46% abv

Background: Here we stand at the face of another peat juggernaut, the Ardbeg 10 Year. This is their flagship product, being big, affordable, and unique, but still upholding the ideals of Ardbeg, being 46% and unchill-filtered. There is no reason to scoff at this Scotch as a potential mainstay, because unlike Lagavulin, you can still afford a bottle of this without missing next month’s car payment. It is a peaty Islay, and it certainly test your passion to a smoky Scotch. It is not common to see an Ardbeg with colorant, and this one is absolutely the same case. Ardbeg will tell you on their packaging that their whiskies stand alone as the most delicate of all Islay whiskies. In fact, Ardbeg is delicate like a stampede of elephants running through a china shop built on a thin layer of ice. Nonetheless, as Jeremy Clarkson would say, the time has come to show it some corners and see what it can do. Here’s what we found:

Straight

Nose: Hey, guess what?! You might find yourself greeted by a nose of oily, smoky peat. This nose is thick in a leathery, even road tar-like character. It doesn’t overbear you with the smell of asphalt, but you certainly will smell something earthy and hot. Keep digging, and you’ll start to find a briny, salty intensity coupled with a charred wood smell and passive savory notes. There is even a slight toasted nuttiness involved in here. On a more subtle note, there are suggestions of vanilla and slightly floral notes that unravel with more exploration. After the whisky opens up, a sense of gin botanicals does make short cameo in this whisky. As a counterbalance, fruitiness akin to fresh apples comes through. It is absolutely an engaging nose.  

Arrival: The arrival starts with an awesome spiciness of cinnamon and ginger, along with some mild sweetness of vanilla and apples. Unfortunately, the arrival doesn’t hold up over time, because the alcohol content masks the flavors pretty quickly. There is a slight maltiness that comes through and is counterbalanced by the saltiness and peatiness that starts to creep in.

Body: There is a combination of peat smoke, maltiness, pumpkin spices, brininess, and even some bitterness that comes through in the body. The body follows the arrival quickly and moves into a fairly dry and spicy body. The body is a lull in the flavor, but black pepper can be found (probably a contributor to the bitterness that is seen in the whisky), along with other spice notes to compliment the smoke and maltiness.

           

Finish: The biggest residual flavor found is the long, dry smoky peat flavor that carries on for what seems like an eternity. Unfortunately, the rest of the whisky doesn’t carry that same length. There is still a lot of salt, black pepper, cinnamon, pumpkin spices, and other spicy notes. It is hugely earthy in the finish, in an unmerciful way. This is definitely a finish suggestive of a novice drinker. It is hot, but not terribly prominent in the sense of burn. There is some light, dry fruitiness that can be found as well, but it is subtle.

With Water

Nose: Seeing as this whisky is 46% and made by Ardbeg, we were a little more liberal with adding water, which did significantly open up the nose. There was more maltiness and balance than before, taking out some of the more obtrusive notes, albeit it still stood as a hugely intense nose.

Arrival: The arrival starts off sweeter, with more malt sugar character than before, and even some honey. The spiciness backs off slightly, and allows a floral, slightly citrusy flavor to come through. A sense of pear rind starts to come through after some time.

Body: The new found citrus in the arrival carries through into the body, representing light orange flavor, maltiness, and still a huge chunk of peat. There is a phenolic character in the body, which is still exacerbated by the peppery bitterness that we found before. The body is short, and finishes rather quickly as well.

           

Finish: The phenolic, peaty, and rather medicinal finish is pretty standard out of an Ardbeg, but comes to light more after adding water. This Scotch doesn’t get much gentler after water, that’s for certain.  The finish just holds an ashy character, with a seaweed saltiness that keeps in the mouth as well. Although most of the complexities of the finish are short, the peat flavor still takes its time and sticks around.

Final Comments: This is a bold whisky, and like Laphroaig it is not for the faint of heart. Where this differs from Laphroaig is that it is drier, less fruity, and has some more “oily” notes. I wouldn’t generally introduce a new peated Scotch drinker to this as their first dram, but it is a relatively enjoyable dram for somebody with experience. That aside, some of the complexity is lost after the arrival, and the flavors don’t seem to pop like they do with some of the other peated Scotches we’ve tried. This is a minor criticism, and there should be no reason not to try it. The biggest thing Ardbeg can do for themselves is to continue producing single malts at good proofs and natural presentation. Also, if you are looking to grow some hair on your chest, look no further. This’ll make you look like Austin Powers in no time.

 

Why you’d buy it: You like an oily, peaty Scotch with complexity, or you aspire to be Austin Powers

Why you wouldn’t: You don’t like drinking liquid smoke.

Score: 8.75/10

Review 154: Ardbeg Uigeadail

  

Review 154

4/5/13

Ardbeg Uigeadail: 54.2% abv

Background: Ardbeg is another Islay Scotch distillery. They are on the southern coast of Islay, and claim to produce the peatiest whisky on Islay, which is a pretty bold claim with all of the heavy hitters out there. The distillery is currently owned by Hennessy, and is one of the fastest growing Islay distilleries at this time. Ardbeg whiskies can be considered extremely fashionable, albeit this is for a good reason. Ardbeg has distilled whisky since 1798, but didn’t start producing commercially until 1815. Ardbeg’s flagship product is the 10 year, but they don’t bottle this like Glenfiddich would. Ardbeg 10 Yr is bottled at 46% abv and is non-chill filtered, so you can tell this stuff is good. Uigeadail, on a different note, is a unique bottling of Ardbeg, aged in sherry casks. In 2009, Jim Murray made Uigeadail the World Whisky of the Year. So this stuff is pretty good. But we don’t trust it from others. Let’s find out for ourselves.

Straight

Nose: The nose here is a complex and dry, and there is some really interesting things happening here. You get the peat and sherry notes pretty instantly, with a very oily, slightly waxy aroma to it. There is a classic briny character to the nose, and even has some gasoline-type smell to it. Keep digging, and you’ll find cashews, rose, cranberry, wood polish, and slight oak. The contrast of these notes is pretty extreme, and this wouldn’t be a beginner’s nose, but it certainly is a revolutionary nose.   

Arrival: This is a brutal start. Not in a bad way, but it is intense. The taste starts hot and spicy, with big cinnamon tastes. The oak tastes come through quickly, with some vanilla and thick oak notes, also cranberry and subtle apple sweetness.

Body: The body comes in with big peat, with the spice notes holding through. There is minor citrus notes, but is overtaken by ginger and dry spice. There is even some apple and molasses sweetness coming through in the body. Finally, you can find some smoked wood notes lingering in the body as well.

           

Finish: The finish is dynamic and smokey, with a big oily mouthfeel. There are still cinnamon and sherry notes from the body. The initial cranberry presence is back from the arrival, and the briny presence is prevalent as well. There is even some minty and gingerbread notes, with the molasses sticking around and black pepper as a residual flavor.

With Water

Nose: After water, the nose is much more balanced. This is an incredible balance, with some honey notes breaking through, the peat starts to blend in, and there is olive oil notes coming through as well. The nose is very pleasant now, and there is not as much burn.

Arrival: The arrival becomes nuttier after water, less spicy, and slightly peaty. The vanilla notes are big. Even after a substantial amount of water, there is no loss of flavor.

Body: After water, the body remains pretty well the same, but there are some berry-like bitterness to it, and also angostura bitters.

           

Finish: The finish, like the body, remains fairly consistent, with a little less spiciness. The finish is still very woody, and adds brininess to it.

Final Comments: Uigeadail is a statement to the maturation of peated whisky in sherry casks, and how good it really can be. It seems like sherry and peated Scotch doesn’t mix, and they absolutely can. This Ardbeg is powerful and complex, and it shows of a different side to a peated Scotch, where the main focus isn’t necessarily how peaty it can be, not to mention the craft presentation Ardbeg puts on all of their whiskies. There is no reason not to try this one, because in effect, you will learn something about Scotch from trying this whisky. At the price, we think this is absolutely a worthy buy, being one of the better Islay’s we’ve had to date. 

Why you’d buy it: It is extremely well crafted and complex, and from a great distillery

Why you wouldn’t: You’re passionate about not buying good whisky

Score: 9.5/10