Tastes

Just wonderful. Sweet smoky bacon, honey and brine on the nose. The palate is full in your face with sweet sour notes and goes over into BBQ flavours. The finish is all about smoky dry oak that stays for quite some time. It's a bit rougher than the Lagavulin Distillers Edition but offers more character und depth. A little oxidation helps to polish the edges. Fantastic dram, I just love it! (93/100)

Nose: dark sherry, apricots, cinnamon and sour apple rings. The nose gets sweeter over time but has a faint artificial ester note. The palate is on par with the nose at it delivers dark sherry and fruity notes up front. It lingers on and offers honey, dark brown sugar and spices. The finish is medium and has pleasant oaky character but fades rather quickly. Summary: Generally, it is a good whisky and caters towards the sherry 'monster' aficionados. However, I have the impression the sherry is not well incorporated into the destillery character. This results in a sherry overloaded, unbalanced whisky that could have been magnificent, but it isn't. It is a decent whisky don't get me wrong, but I would always prefer the 12yo, which is my favourite expression of this destillery. (84/100)

Neat: Nose: Very shy on the initial nose. There is a hint of barley and vanilla but that's basically it. Palate: Big arrival with then toasted barley that takes you on a journey with some salt, big honey notes and certain sour notes. The finish is long, very pleasant and has an oaky butter quality to it. With water: Nose: The whisky opens up with a splash if water. Some floral and herbal notes appear together with a little caramel smell. Palate: The taste stays very much in tact but gains in volume and punch. There is just a little smokiness coming through the mid palate and a dryness usually associated with peated whiskys. If you add more water the whiskys loses some of its complexity, gets sweeter but also more alcoholic. In summary it gets younger the more water you add. In summary: Its a well matured bourbon CS whisky. It tolerates quite some water but probably has its sweet spot around 50% ABV where both nose and palate are interesting. I miss the bold honey notes from previous expressions but still nice to play with. (82/100) The price is a little bit too high. I prefer the Loch Lomond 17 much more.

Nose: You will get dates and dark dried fruits up front with toffee hitting your face afterwards. The rest I'd the nose is just your average but well made sherry. Palate: The palate is all about the sherry (obviously) The main flavours I get are dried plums, caramel a little salt and a well balanced sherryness. The whisky ends on a dry medium long finish with some tobacco, leather and oak. Summary: This is a staple for a good reason. It's the benchmark of a well balanced entry level sherry whisky that's all I have to say about it (except, that it might be a terrific dram with 46% ABV!)

Nose: Barley at first with green apples and pears and a little caramel. Palate: The barley starts on the palate as well. More fruity notes take over and end in a rather short-medium finish of tobacco, leather and a hint of dark chocolate. Unfortunately, over all those things hangs a profound alcoholic sting which makes it not the most pleasant dram. (If you add water you just water down the taste without revealing any new flavours). In summary: it's an interesting experiment but I don't think that IPA casks are suitable for this whisky. The maturation doesn't bring out the characteristics what I like in an IPA and you just end up with a young, alcoholic dram. (It reminds me of a german wheat beer though, which I like :))

Great combination of mint, dark chocolate some berries and a hint of smoke. (Detailed review will follow). It's a great red wine whisky taking the price tag into account.

Initially a wet smoke hits you. Then BBQ flavour and finally the Ardbeg herbal notes and sweetness come through. On the palate it's all out BBQ paired with sweetness and some honey. With water it gets sweeter and tends to switch to wet smoke again. The finish is long lasting, bold and rather smokey. Man this is terrific. The red wine really seems to go well with the ardbeg house style. This is by far the most complex and best Ardbeg I had. (90/100)

The nose is beautifully complex with dark fruits, cinnamon, fennel seeds and it gets more herbal when you give it some time. On the palate it starts with brown sugar, dark fruits I can't pinpoint. The development is very slow but a nice ping pong between the sweet, dry and fruity oloroso notes. As you would expect the finish is long, dry and very pleasant. In summary, this is a masterpiece of Oloroso maturation, I especially adore the plum/cinnamon flavour combo. Certainly one of my all time favourite sherry whiskies! (92/100)

Best ardbeg for my taste. It's more than smoke and sweet herbs than usually. The wine really comes through and improves the impression substantially! (92/100)