Any whisky enthusiast that has an Instagram account has at least seen this bottle a couple hundred times. And i got to say that every special edition from Ardbeg tends to go quickly off the shelves and starts to be available for an absurd price on secondary markets. Having said that, i was eager to try "Kelpie" for a long time. As always, some lovely story behind it all. A Kelpie is a mythological scottish water spirit, that resides in lochs, that can take any form, usually a Horse, but can even have a human shape. If the Kelpie gets a human form, some say the horshoe is still on its feet. The most famous Kelpie is the Loch Ness monster; so, everything about this tale is amazing. Lets talk about the whisky. Bottled at standard Ardbeg strength, 46%abv, non-chill filthered, matured in "Black Sea" oak casks from Russia, and bourbon casks. Black sea oak is made from a tree called Quercus Hartwissiana, that grows near the Black sea. Pretty interesting stuff. On the nose, it is a little strange. Starts very poorly, but grows into a nice aroma. Right from the start, you typical Ardbeg peat, but more citric and mossy. There is some dark chocolate fudge under the very medicinal peat. Oily on the nose, not something i usually find. Its like nosing a powerful mint hard candy. After 3 minutes, it released some pork and BBQ. It gets better, since this mint / citric aroma was not very appealing, but after 5 minutes, it is all about chocolate brownies and creamy vanilla. After a first sip, the nose became a dessert. Lots of chocolate, pears, creamy vanilla. Having more sips, just made it sweeter: a vanilla outburst, brownies, butter, a bakery. I have no idea where all this came from, specially when it was so different the first minutes. On the palate it is very easy drinkable, but it just follows one direction. It feels like a soft wine with an Ardbeg profile. First sip is peaty, but then it changes to a vanilla ice cream, with a hint of pepper. Vanilla gets stronger as you take more sips, maybe some prunes are present. Aftertaste is not from Ardbeg. A beautiful chocolate cake. Peat is tamed in a good way. You are not really overwhelmed by the peat, but somehow your lips are scorched after 30 seconds by a salt and ginger combo. It is all about creamy vanilla, moss and dim smokiness. I really have no idea why my mouth is peated after a while, since you don't really feel it when it should be felt... maybe is a peaty spirit that appeared out of nowhere, a proper kelpie. Overall, this is not your normal Ardbeg, and definitively not a normal dram. What i have described here is a crazy unfolding of aromas and flavors in a weird but not off-putting way. My score is a fair 85 over 100, and i encourage you to try it, to experience the strange things this whisky has for you. Sláinte!