Now, (good) sherry casks are getting even more scarce since the consumption of sherry is hitting an all time low. This means that the cost of a sherry cask, usually a sherry butt (app. 500 liters) is up to 10 times!! more expensive than your average ex-bourbon cask from the US. Quite a difference, eh?
So what about this young Ardbeg? The previous one reviewed here was from a 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel and seemed very mature for it age... is it the same with this one as its been in a larger sherry butt with less surface-to-wood contact?
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| Ardbeg Distillery from the road - October 2008 © The Malt Desk |
Ardbeg 2005 33.124 (16.08.2005/xx.10.2012) 7yo, 'An Engineer's lunchbox' 59,7% 1st fill ex-sherry butt, 602 bottles, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Colour is straw
Nose:
Antiseptic, citrus, medium heavy peat smoke, sooty, smells of fishing harbour, very fresh and vibrant and unmistakingly Ardbeggian - although slightly heavier than normal...
Taste:
Crisp peat, lovely sweetness, mainly on oranges and lemons, but also a heavier underlying winey notes from the sherry cask. Star anise and sweet licorice. The addition of water makes the wine-note more dominant although never overpowering. With plenty of water, I was thinking Schweppes Ginger ale at one point...
This is not a dram thats swamped in sherry and certainly not by its colour.
This does not mean that the sherry butt hasn't left any influence here, it has - and it's lovely!
I'm thinking this as an alternative to Uigeadail? I'd takes seconds of this anytime...
Excellent young Ardbeg!!
89/100!
Actually An apothecary’s Den (33.123) is really also worth trying ----- young and 'angry' dram !
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