Ardbeg Grooves (NAS)

 

I have held onto this bottle for some time, in a secret "emergency scotch" stash, and only remembered tonight that I had yet to review it! So here we go: the Ardbeg Day 2018 release, aged an undisclosed period of years in super heavily charred red wine casks (!). Very interesting - I think scotch and red wine casks go hand-in-glove. This one is bottled at 46%. Thanks to Ardbeg rep Clarke Boyer for hosting the Ardbeg event where I ordered this from Ace Beverage in Wesley Heights in Washington DC. 

Ardbeg 10 Year: A Celebration

 

This brief post isn't really a review. It's just a general celebration of a great bottle of whisky - Ardbeg's vaunted 10 Year expression. 

Smokehead High Voltage Islay Single Malt (NAS)

 

I've been curious about Smokehead for a while, but only recently was I able to source any in the DC area. An unnamed, no age statement single malt from bottler Ian Macleod, it's from Islay, it's young, and at 58% it's very punchy. No idea about the casking, but it doesn't taste sherried to me at all. Likely ex-bourbon, maybe even 2nd fill. The core spirit overwhelms the wood influence, that's for sure. It's pretty much a mystery all the way around - although internet sources variously say it's either a young (~6 year) Ardbeg, or a young unsherried Lagavulin. Others have even guessed it's Caol Ila. My money is on Ardbeg. 

Ardbeg Arrrrrrrdbeg! (NAS)

"Arrrrrrrdbeg!" is Ardbeg's special yearly committee release for 2021, to celebrate the retirement of distillery manager Mickey Heads. Ardbeg styles this his "special bottle of grog," and it's been matured entirely for XXX? years in ex-rye barrels. That's right - amid all of the aged Ardbeg releases lately, this is a No Age Statement release. This comes in at a very nice 51.8% ABV. Let's see how the typical Ardbeg profile fares when subjected to all-rye treatment...

Ardbeg Blaaack (NAS)

The 2020 annual release from Ardbeg, "Blaaack" refers to sheep, specifically the 7:1 ratio of sheep to people in New Zealand - where the red wine (Pinot Noir) casks used to finish this whisky came from.  This is the general release, bottled at 46% and matured in ex-bourbon, finished in red wine. 

Ardbeg Uigeadail (Second Take)

Continuing my Ardbeg series that I've been on: a second look at Uigeadail, since I think it's changed significantly since 2013 or 2014 when I last reviewed it. Still aged in sherry casks and bottled at a nice, stiff 54.2% ABV, let's see how (I think) it's changed. 

Ardbeg Auriverdes (NAS)

Another great limited release by Ardbeg! This one is from 2014. Aged in charred American oak, and bottled at 49.9% - how does Gold and Green liquid fare?

Ardbeg Drum (NAS)

The first of the limited bottlings that I've reviewed, although I've had most of them - I'm long overdue! This is the 2019 release for Ardbeg Day, and is finished in former rum casks (supposedly from Demerera rum, of El Dorado fame). Bottled at 46% and - as usual - uncolored and non-chill-filtered. What does Ardbeg look like through a rum filter?

Ardbeg 5 Year "Wee Beastie"

Behold! A new addition to the Ardbeg lineup - "Wee Beastie," a 5 year expression aged in ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso sherry barrels/casks. The moment I received the email that this was released I immediately had some delivered, and then savored a dram of the 10 year, always a perennial favorite in this household. Let's see how the little brother stacks up...

Ardbeg Day 2018 - Washington DC event review

I went to the Ardbeg release party for their An Oa bottling last year, and it was a BLAST. I had a ton of fun, and I came away with nothing but positive vibes and delicious tastes of fantastic whiskey. 

Well, this year's Ardbeg Day, part of Feis Ile, came today and I was lucky enough to be in attendance. At Jack Rose Saloon in Adams Morgan, a large crowd came together to celebrate Ardbeg whiskey, and specifically their new Grooves bottling for 2018. 

Ardbeg An Oa Release Party, Washington DC, at Jack Rose Saloon

A member of the Ardbeg Committee, I received an email from the local Ardbeg representative inviting me to Jack Rose Saloon tonight (9/23/17) to celebrate the release of the newest Ardbeg expression, An Oa (which I recently picked up and reviewed). 

Ardbeg An Oa (NAS)

It's finally here! The new fourth permanent installation in the Ardbeg lineup, An Oa ("Ahn Oh") is among us at last. An Oa is named for the Mull of Oa, a southern peninsula on Islay. I have been calling, emailing, and polling every liquor store in the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia area trying to get my hands on this. At last, randomly, I did a lunchtime google search and found it advertised in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, at Potomac Wine and Spirits. The salesman was completely nonchalant, but noted that they had been flying off the shelves far faster than they had estimated. 

Ardbeg 10 Year (Third Take)

As I prepare for the arrival of the new Ardbeg - called An Oa ("An Oh") - I am revisiting the other three core expressions from the distillery, Ten Year, Uigeadail, and Corryvreckan. I realized that I had sampled my beloved Ten Year fairly recently, but at a pretty poor bar that served the dregs of a bottle in a giant widemouth tumbler, like I was some kind of riverboat gambler guzzling rye before cheating some rubes at poker in a dark and smokey saloon.

Ardbeg Corryvreckan (Second Take)

Oh, Ardbeg. How I love thee. Corryvreckan is actually my second favorite, after Uigeadail, but is a tremendous whisky in its own right. I acquired a bottle during a nice sale, and thought I would revisit this powerful Islay brew. 

Corryvreckan was originally a "Committee Release," Ardbeg's fan club offering, and it replaced a beloved dram, Airigh Nam Beist, in 2009. Corryvreckan was supposed to be a limited release, but has continued unabated to this day. 

Ardbeg 10 (Second Take)

Next up in my series of second takes on previous reviews of mine is the core expression of my favorite distillery, Islay's Ardbeg. I actually intended my next review to be Talisker 10, but the bar I went to only had an ancient bottle of Talisker with two fingers left of liquid... Seemed like a bad bet.

ScotchTalk Vol. 4: "Taste"

Taste is a strange sense, and perhaps the most subjective.

Most people can agree on the scent of an apple, or perfume, or the ocean when they encounter it blindfolded. Most people can differentiate touch between soft and hard, knobby and smooth, etc., to a very surprisingly minute degree. Most people can detect almost infinitely small gradients of color, and generally agree what is pleasing to observe and what isn't (within reasonable limits). 

Ardbeg 10 Year

Here's a tip: If you ever go on vacation with a bunch of people who aren't whisky drinkers, and you aren't sure they will share in your bottle of Ardbeg Ten Year... they won't. It's all yours. Sip at your leisure. They will say things like "it smells like burned things," and "what IS that?" and "it smells like a medicine cabinet." 

All true, of course. 

It's funny, how your tastes change. Ardbeg Ten Year was the first Islay Scotch whisky I ever had, and the first time I had it I could only taste what my family tasted this weekend - smoke, iodine, coal, tar, tobacco, dark and musty citric things... and the salt-and-peppery burn of alcohol at the end somewhere. 

So this last weekend I worked my way through another bottle over a couple days, and I really relished it and its subtleties. Having had Uigeadail and Corryvreckan now, the Ten Year takes on new dimensions... there are vectors and angles here I hadn't sensed previously. Bottled at 46% ABV, let's get right to this one. 

Nose: Smoke and peat, right up front. But less than the first time I tried it. This time I got a lot more iodine and and sea salt/spray. Very maritime, like Talisker. But much smokier. A hint of citrus drifts around. 

Mouthfeel: Very very full, coats the whole mouth and stays there. 

Palate: Smoke comes and goes and comes again. Unlike my last time through the Ten Year, this is actually sweet throughout... a pleasant generic vanilla sweetness, not like the tropical fruit of Corryvreckan or the honey glaze of Uigeadail. Vanilla and citrus lace the smoke throughout, making for a nice balance. The citrus might be lemon, might be orange, might even be lime, it's indistinct. 

Finish: Peppery and alcoholic, with endless peat that goes on for days. Salt speckles the smoke. Very pleasant. 

Verdict: To me, this is the definitive entry-level Islay Scotch. I like Ardbeg's flavor profile more than Laphroaig, and the price point edges out Lagavulin. I recommend it IF you are interested in a smokey, medicinal whisky experience that will reward you the more you come back to it. I'll be seeing more of this dram...

Link to the Ardbeg website for the Ten Year: http://www.ardbeg.com/ardbeg/whisky/ten-years-old

Ardbeg Corryvreckan (NAS)

Not enough bottles of Scotch are named for unusual things; Ardbeg catches my interest when they release bottles named Alligator, AuriVerdes, and, of course, Corryvreckan - named for the famous whirlpool off of Scotland, between the Isle of Jura and Isle of Scarba. I understand and ultimately don't mind things like "Triple Wood" and "Fifteen Year" and "Sherry Cask" ... but I think it helps distinguish your distillery and product from among the dozens also using those phrases to come up with a unique descriptor like Ardbeg does here. 

Ardbeg Uigeadail (NAS, 2013 bottling)

Ardbeg is a distillery I particularly like (being partial to the more intensely peated whiskies of the Islay region), and Uigeadail is my favorite whisky of theirs... one of my very favorites of all time, in fact. This is a whisky that will always be found on my shelf.