Ardbeg Corryvreckan

Absolutely stellar. BBQ smoke. Turbulent, intense, briny, complex, spicy, bold, perfectly-balanced smoke & sweet. Nose: sweet caramel, subtle smoke, sea salt. Palate: smoke, caramel, honey, cinnamon, black pepper & cloves. Long, sweet & spicy finish.

Smell: Grassy, caramel, with a slight brine. Taste: Big oak, peppery smoke on the front. Big tea spice and caramel on the mid, with some grassy notes. No fusel on the back end. Great smoky finish.

ARDBEG: Corryvreckan (“Corry”) vs Uigeadail (“Oogie”) I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Ardbeg for some time. On the one hand, they produce some seriously ostentatious, hedonistic, cerebral (and polarizing) scotch. On the other hand—perhaps as a function of its corporate parent, LVMH—it is unabashedly marketing-oriented, frequently releasing young and/or no-age-statement whiskies, which is not only at odds with traditional, age-statemented scotch, but also displays a shameless focus on profit (shorter maturation means quicker inventory turns). And more anecdotally, it was Uigeadail which nearly derailed a fantastic night of whisky a couple years back at Milroy’s in Soho. After consuming several high-end Japanese whiskies and some older, elegant scotches, something inside me thought it would be interesting to shake things up for my whisky neophyte friend with a dram of the high-octane monster truck that Oogie is. It did not go well. Imagine instantly flipping a switch from the pastoral sublimity of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6 to GNR’s “Welcome to the Jungle”—at full blast. One can love both, in the same way that one can love grilled salmon and chocolate syrup—just not on top of one other. But I digress. “Corry”: this is an NAS (no age statement) whisky, which its straw color attests (and more positively, also reveals no added coloring). The back label declares that Corry “is not for the faint-hearted!”. Enter The Office’s Dwight Schrute: “Fact.” This is not a peat bomb in the Bruichladdich Octomore spectrum: and although Ardbeg doesn’t disclose the phenol PPM, it is not low. Nose shows plenty of smoky peat, Islay iodine and salinity, Japanese nori, asphalt, and a touch of bacon fat. There is a penetrating, mouthcoating entry, adding chocolate to the mix, and with a spicy, white pepper finish. The 57.1% ABV is a nice counterweight to Corry’s full-throttle style. “Oogie”: also NAS, with a slightly deeper color than the Corry, due in part to Oogie’s sherry-cask maturation. As if it were possible, Oogie finds another gear, adding sweetness to the mix. Nose reveals a layer of smoky peat permeating pineapple upside-down cake, with some butterscotch and traditional sherry notes of raisin and hazelnut. Different mouthfeel than the Corry, with a similar peppery kick leading to a drying, leathery finish (despite the modestly lower 54.2% ABV). Mind-blowing scotch: just don’t consume following Hibiki 21 and Glendronach 25 in an attempt to show another flavor dimension to your whisky neophyte friend. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.