Nose is really well balanced (blind I said Lagavulin) with smoke and sherry. Palate is smokey with sweet smoked tea flavors and some dusty/dirty aspects (blind the palate said Laphroaig). Finish was medium and I really liked this as well. When revealed it was Ardbeg, I kind of put three and five together to see it but certainly not a regular Ardbeg.
A full on peat and sherry monster! My original notes contained a lot of profane exclamations of it's greatness, which I will spare you, but they are nonetheless warranted. Use the "F word" and "Great" seven times in a sentence and you'll get the gist.
I don't really understand why Ardbeg bottles so few sherry casks, the spirit clearly takes sherry very well. I would not say the sherry is perfectly integrated, however, the peat and sherry stand apart to some extent. That's the only reason it's not an A. Ten more years in the cask and this would have been redonkulous.
Nose of deep sherry, sweet and nectary like Pedro Ximenez, with strong toffee.. The palate is a smoke bomb! Sort of a hickory type of smoke. Mixed with that are beef and pork flavors swirling about. This is really great and quite complex, aggressive and challenging, yet it does that without being inaccessible. Yum yum!
Very unique Ardbeg. Nose is brown sugar and molasses. Butter and spice on the palate, little red pepper. Then the finish gets all red pepper and peat. Wow.
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