Ardbeg 10 Year

10 y.o 46 % abv Isla No coloring, No chill filtered It was my first true Islay whiskey. Wow... It was just unexpected wow effect. Never tried everything close before. I was blown away in a nice way. Nose: strong and smoky, salty meat, sea breeze, minera citrus. You can find some fruits sweetness as well. I felt in love instantly... More about smell: your neighbors will know when your poure yourself a dram! And one more: I'm the only one who found it pleasant among my family and friends... Palate: thick and oily, smoke and salt, light and pleasant. Some sweetness and peat. Pear. Pepper at the end. Finish: long, warm, smoky... Everybody once in their live should try such kind of drink. You will fall in love or hate it... But you must try! 4.75 - you were my first of such kind and will remain in my memory till the end of my days... I'm sure, you probably will taste much different as I will progress in my whiskey journey. But you will remain the first one that surprised me and opened the door A keeper for sure!

If you’re like me you enjoy smashing cigarette butts into an over crowded ashtray behind the local fish monger. It’s where I take my lunch breaks and whilst wolfing down left over pickled onion and cheddar sandwhiches I enjoy an old shoe full of this stuff. My nose becomes sexually frustrated as the medicinal sea scape takes a seat and rests its hands a little too close to my nasal cavity, it distracts me from me from my other friends, smoked mackerel and peppercorn. I don’t mind though, she knows how to treat me right and I do my best to say hello to the old pals. Eventually she takes me away to a dingy hotel in Blackpool and plays Tears for Fears through tinny speakers. Peppercorn pops by and helps massage me into rolling meadows of pears and bandaids. A little wood oil and barrel bite never hurt anyone, especially when thin honey is there to soothe the welcomed stings. I lay there on the grassy hill and enjoy the finish of salted chocolate and medicinal ocean spray kisses me one last time. I pick myself up from a pile of wooden pallets and light one last ciggy before trodding off back to the office to finish sorting through customers tax returns. Life is bliss with this in my glass.

Very medicinal nose, lots of seaweed & iodine, campfire ash, dried mushrooms

Appearance: Semillon Gold. Beautiful legs that stick to the glass and fall slowly. Nose: [The best part of this whiskey.] To the uninitiated, like myself, a first nosing may bring to mind acrylic paints like those used in elementary art class. But after I was able to move past it, and look deeper and try to break apart what I was really smelling I found several things. Smokey aromatic tendrils carry sweet bread, sea spray, smoked meats, and Kompot out of the glass. There is a nice honey sweetness to it all. Chasing these notes was a thrill, there is a lot going on in the nose. Taste: Cracked black pepper flew in a V formation over my tongue and dropped a smokey napalm of lemon rind on my taste buds. There are saltine crackers, Kompot, blistered shishitos, and a faint malty note. The mouthfeel is very smokey and zesty. Finish: The finish is quick and wet, not oily, but wet (if that is a thing). Not much happens past the mid-palate. More smoke, white grapes when chewing, and a smokey vegetal note between my molars. Faint malt. The front of my tongue still feels like I opened the pepper shaker on the dining room table and left it in there for a bit. This was my first Islay, and is by no means a bad whiskey. There is a lot going on in the nose and I thought this was a fun palate training exercise. The taste and finish just aren’t quite up to the hype. Zesty and smokey. I think I might like this more if I were watching the sea from an old wooden bench on a dock in Scotland. Will drink again. [3/19/22] UPDATE: Ardbeg Uigeadail broke my brain and I WILL have to try this again. So good!!