Ardbeg Scorch (2021 Committee Release)

I told myself I'd never go back....and here I am. Another over priced NAS ardbeg. Why do I hate myself so? Nose - That weird vanilla meets almost baby vomit or sour milk thing you get on younger peated whiskies comes right out to me. There's more smoked oak than normal. Mint. An irish springs soap. It's a weird ardbeg but it's ardbeg. I could use some lemon. Taste - Burnt clay and intense iodine peat jumped out and then you get this roasted and burnt oak...they nailed the "scorched" aspect of this, way better than I expected. I'd have bet a lot of money against them here. This is a giant massive peat bomb hitting on all cylinders. If you love peat and you liked overly charred barrel, you can't really go "wrong" but is it great? Is it good? That's where I struggle. I get the off notes of youth though turned down vs blaaack or drum or some of these other trash ardbeg's of late. It's not as refined as the Arrrrdbeg, but that thing was so refined, yet not old...it was boring. After the initional smoke bomb note, I now get candy cigarette, powered sugar, and some sweet oak notes. There's some pine and winter green mint notes to round this one out. A bold and for once I'm going to admit well put together gimmick from ardbeg. Worth of 2 stars and I finally can at least say, at least ardbeg didn't steal my money on an LE. Would I buy again? Nah. But hey it's a good enough whisky to try once and this bottle will be around a bit. Wish I"d gotten 2 of these instead of 2 blacks though...god that sucked.

Already opened No water Nose - aggressive peat, brine, smoked meat, surprisingly sweet green apple Taste - good mouth-feel, oily and viscous but not thick, brine, peat smoke, slight hints of honey trying to fight through the dominant flavors Overall - a good whisky, lives up to its name, but dare I say, maybe a little too peat heavy.

Vanilla, apricot, charred oak. Not incredibly smoky, but has definitive Ardbeg peat.

Smoky but not peaty

The nose is intense. Beautiful and intense in the way that the Corryvreckan is, but it’s more unique and with toasted vanilla and fennel. The palate includes super intense arbroath smokies, alongside a sticky vanilla syrup and a toasted cinnamon stick...almost a bit of cinnamon liqueur finish. It lasts forever...damn. This is the best release since Kelpie, and is definitely a top 3 for me from the last ten years

Nose: Ardbeg peat, light vanilla and grapefruit. Burnt pancakes. Caramel and apricots. Taste: intense peat and burnt oak. Very sweet peaches and vanilla candy. A hint of maple. Finishes with apple and cherry. As it sits in the glass it starts to get really sweet and the peat turns into more of a burnt bbq note. Water doesn’t seem to impact the whisky much. Not sure how much the extra char is doing here, but the bourbon is definitely adding much sweeter notes and it’s interesting seeing the peat interacting with it.

An interesting ardbeg Nose smoke malt in citrus Taste huge sweetness chewing on charred oak Finish spicy smoke lingering faint rubber I was expecting to be hit in the face with the smoke but I was not expecting the level of sweetness in it.

Nose: vanilla bean, tar, charred wood, coconut, milk chocolate, almost an almond joy, balanced in the consistency on the nose, very full. The peat is very present, but not accompanied by any brine or medicinal notes. the charred wood is definitely stronger than the peat. Palate: charred oak, burnt vanilla, toward the backend the peat shows itself more in the form of almost tar (in the best way). Extremely thicccc mouthfeel Finish: long, creme Brulee sweetness, and strong peat Overall, I do not think this is the most complex Islay I've ever had. That being said, I think this is the most full and high quality peated scotch I've ever tried. I personally don't think a whiskey has to be complex to be good, but in my mind I do think it has to be well executed. While I'm no peat head, I can say that this release is well put together and extremely balanced, despite aging in casks supposedly charred by a fire breathing dragon.