Ardbeg Day 2022 is upon us, and as all the time the chaps in Islay have a particular launch in retailer for Ardbeg Committee members. Ardcore is a celebration of all issues punk, made with roasted black malt that’s “incinerated to hair-raising ranges.” It’s the primary utilization of black malt by the distillery, which Pal of Drinkhacker Dr. Invoice Lumsden describes as tasting “like biting on a spiky ball.”
In tasting Ardcore — the usual 46% abv expression, not the 50.1% Committee model — I can’t say that Lumsden is fallacious.
Mild gold in shade as is typical for the model, the whisky affords a densely smoky nostril that’s a enjoyable spin on Ardbeg from the beginning. It’s not significantly peaty; the smokiness is tied intently to the grains, certainly coming throughout like burnt toast or cereal heated to oblivion over a fireplace, nearly charcoal-like. Some espresso notes are evident with time in glass, then lastly some seaweed, eventually evoking one thing about Islay. The palate finds room for a bit of sweetness — sesame and a few marshmallow, a little bit of nougat, then darkish chocolate notes. Right here the smoke is tempered, if solely reasonably, offering a smoldering counterbalance to the extra dessert-like qualities within the dram, with a squeeze of citrus evident on the surprisingly vivid end.
Whereas Ardbeg is iconically related to peat, this expression reveals what the distillery can do when its smokier qualities come from a unique supply. A enjoyable change of tempo from a distillery that’s all the time innovating.
92 proof.
A- / $130 / ardbeg.com
Ardbeg Ardcore
$130
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