dhsilv2
Ardbeg Blaaack (2020 Committee Release)
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
April 11, 2020 (edited July 11, 2020)
So this is a pre review tasting and I'll adjusted for the real one. This is my second glass and I'm trying to decided where to go with this.
Nose - young, medicinal, citrus fruits, banana, and maybe a hint of a red wine.
Taste - young whisky. A mess of vanilla, oak, salt, brine, bananas, youthful casks, some acidic red wine, and then some sweet mellowing notes and then a spicy finish.
Every time I try to talk myself into or out of this I come to the same two thoughts. The first is this is young as hell and it shows it in the worst ways and the second is there are some good wine casks used here to help.
Overall at the end of the day, and I'll try and come back if things change...this is another massive failure when taken into context of price. This is corryvreckan with better casking and maybe a few months more age.
Yeah I'm seriously disappointed in this one. It's not bad whisky...but I'm struggling to score it past a 2.0.
With others enjoying this I am really looking to find some value, but I keep coming back to these young whisky notes, good wine casks but perhaps cheap bourbon casks leading to them. I guess where I struggle is if some of spices and finishes are sharp casks that were intended or raw spirit that has no place in this. I'm thinking it's youth.
2.0 an average whisky where I feel many will enjoy it beyond that and many will find this down right offensive.
Dropping it to 1.50, I've had it a few times. It's just nearing terrible. Pass on this please.
140.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@dhsilv2 I didn’t like dark cove. I don’t like that plastic cherry I get from rushed PX finishes.
@ScotchingHard over dark cove?
I just opened my bottle... I don’t regret purchasing it. Not as good as the Longrow Pinot Noir, but I’m thinking I like it when they put peated whisky in Pinot noir casks. My favorite limited release since ardbog, although there are a few I haven’t tried.
@Soba45 lol
@PBMichiganWolverine The Dirk Diggler of whiskey...the life stories are similar. Has box office hits, comes into a lot of money (hello LVMH), gets addicted to drugs (or in Ardbegs case making money) and starts producing crap to feed his addiction. Long story short after selling his body and soul dies of a drug overdose. If it was 2020 he may have done well though as people seem to now love poor quality crap e.g. Kardashians, and Ardbeg NAS's, and so unlike Dirk Ardbeg will endure (it also has rich parents unlike Dirk)
@dhsilv2 @dhsilv2 It's not you the stuff is getting both younger, worse and more expensive. I tried the Renaissance 1998 (10 yr old CS which I believe then led to the 10), Galileo (despite the stupid mkting was a very nice drop) and much better than current crop bar the 19 which I really liked. I might be wrong and mixing up distilleries but I thought it was Richard-Modern who said they cut back production a while back for a period so had a shortage of stock across certain age ranges. If that was the case the plan seems to be hoard the old stuff and sell it for stupid prices and flog heaps of young stuff in their NASs. That's why I had a lot of respect for Billy walker who had several year gap in stock but refused to stop selling age statements or jack up prices..just provided much a older stuff. Even Laphroaig through in 21 yr and oldish stock to their Lore NASs (although whether they still do now...)
@dhsilv2 I went to an Ardbeg session at the 2020 Dramfest in March just before the world shut down :-). They served a 10 yr, Aan ao and this all CS. The committee release is nearly 9% lower abv
@dhsilv2 I don’t blame you...when you spend your hard earned cash, you can be discerning as you want.
@Soba45 where/how did you get a different version of this? I kinda assumed this was or near CS at over 50% but then again it's 12 day old new make, so it should be higher :) @PBMichiganWolverine I'm seeing it closer to 250 already secondary...and while I don't follow the negotiations it seems to be selling easily over 200 + shipping. And youtubers are giving this favorable reviews consistently which is kinda blowing my mind. Maybe I'm just a snob for wanting a bit more refinement but I just do.
@cascode I have really enjoyed the 22 and 23 year olds, all be it price is a factor...though i'm still debating getting a 23 as I can get a somewhat "deal" on it for only 500. I also really enjoyed the 19, but again 300 bucks is way too much. I feel either I've changed a lot (possible but I dunno) or even their core lineup outside of the 10 is dropping in quality.
@PBMichiganWolverine LOL - great analogy :-) @dhsilv2 Top review, you hit the nail squarely on the head here. Brash juvenile distillate helped along by good wine casks, yup. The only OB Ardbeg I have any time for nowdays is the 10 year old. Everything else is past its use-by date and the special releases are increasingly just crass young one-trick ponies.
Almost sad....like watching an Oscar winning doing soft porn to make ends meet during his older years...
Yeah I had the CS variant and wasn't that impressed..as you say seemed quite young and raw.
And some places are gutsy enough to ask over $200 for this