Ardbeg Scorch

I really love this! Is it expensive? Yes, but it’s also delicious. A smoke bomb for sure, but you also get some salinity, sweetness, spice, and tar!!! Tar??? Yes, tar! And I dig it!!! WTF is wrong with me!!!

This one appears to be a late to the game of Game of Thrones style whisky marketing with Ardbeg’s marketing people making the simplistic idea of Drogon dragon scorching barrels. So I guess the thought would be that after Daenerys Targaryen is flown away by her dragon Drogon, they land in Islay and Drogon picks up charring barrels for Ardbeg instead of charring King’s Landing. So how does dragon charred whisky barrels affect the whisky taste, thankfully @PBMichiganWolverine gave me a sample to find out. The nose starts with a medium peat smoke and freshly cut open vanilla pod, followed by soft orchard fruit (pears, peaches, apples) before chocolate nibs and spices of ginger, lemongrass and fresh bandages with light ethanol burn. The taste is a thin mouthfeel starting with fruits of orange, charred lemon and grapefruit followed by light vanilla pudding with campfire ash before spices of ginger, lemongrass and medium tannic oak with light ethanol burn that finishes short with campfire ash, chocolate nibs, soft fruits of peaches, mangos and papaya and lingering tannic oak. This is actually very mediocre and thin to the point the taste seems watered down making notes hard to find outside of peat and wood. The nose is light and enjoyable, but going in for a taste the mid-palate goes to a mix of campfire ash with tannic oak that continues through the finish. You basically get King’s Landing that has been Drogon scorched in liquid form with some fruits mixed in. If you’re wondering how this compares to other Ardbeg whisky though, I ran it through them all and it wasn’t even close to competing with any of them including the cheapest of Wee Beastie that you can find for under $50. Wee Beastie is a thicker mouthfeel with more flavors and a longer finish. So if you want to buy an Ardbeg, my recommendation is to skip the $120+ these cost and go for anything in their core line.

Peat, birch, raspberry aroma (strong). Sweet. Spicy. Cinnamon. Long sweet, peat, smoke aftertaste. Have to try this again!