Ardbeg Ardbog

So, I had quite a few excellent choices when it came time to decide what whisky I would review for my 300th entry on Distiller. We had several 5 star drams last month prior to Whiskyfest that I still need to officially review, but I decided I wanted to do something new to me. Thanks to my friend Jason, from Maryland, I had a pour of this fantastic Ardbeg: Ardbog. This bottle was the Feis Isle festival release from 2013 and is a blend of several casks that spent 10 years in Manzanilla sherry casks. The color is deep copper and it makes some seriously wide legs in the Glencairn. The story written around the box tell tales of what ancient artifacts and treasures have been unearthed while farming for peat around Islay: bronze swords, silver and copper coins, ancient crustacean fossils and even dinosaur bones. It’s a cool, dedicated homage to the peat bogs all over the island. The nose starts off with your typical Ardbeg smoke and campfire notes. Then the sherry casks make their presence known and flood the glass with berry and orchard fruits and sea spray. The nose is perfectly balanced between the two. The palate continues the same onslaught: smoked BBQ and bacon, salty air with a deep hit of sherry wine and vanilla oak. It’s all silky smooth, but I think the cask sweetness takes over just a tad too much. I want that meaty smoke from Ardbeg to stay in the forefront, but the cask actually pushes it to the background. It’s still fantastic, I just want the smoke to lead and the sherry to follow- this is just reversed here. The finish is medium-to-long, warm and smoky while remaining butter smooth. It’ll linger as long as you let it and that really put a smile on my face. Overall, it’s nearly perfect. I just wish the roles were reversed to fit my wheelhouse, but there’s no reason to think this isn’t a 4.5 star dram. Luckily, I found a bottle of this at a store while walking the streets of DC last month with @Telex and @Generously_Paul. It’s very rare now, so I’m glad I have a bottle to put away. If you see this one out there- do not hesitate to buy it. Great stuff. Cheers.

Ardbog has one of the coolest and funniest boxes around. The front features a beautiful sword, a bronze piece purportedly unearthed near Oa. As the text informs us, "Cut 3 foot into the bog and you'll have dug 1000 years into the past. Dig deeper and you'll discover peat formed from prehistoric vegetation -- the essence of Ardbeg." The sides contain additional images of archaeological or paleontological finds from Islay, including ancient coins, helmets, and fossils. One of them, a fossilized nautilus, is "a very early member of the Clam MacDougall, forefathers of Ardbeg's founders." Ha! In the glass, Ardbog is the color of advanced rust. Ardbog has aromas of Woodford Reserve bourbon balls: pecan and chocolate surrounding a bourbon-infused filling. The Manzanilla adds dark, sweet notes of chocolate and toffee or caramel throughout, rather than the jam or dried-fruit scent that comes from other types of sherry. There's a strong burst of leafy smoke, spice, and leather, leaving no doubt as to the heavily peated nature of this single malt. On the palate, the first flavors are of a peat-laced honey, and then I get a combination of sea spray and flowers that I'm going to start calling "spring Ardbeg." In addition, there's some mulled wine, grapefruit, iodine and phenols from the peat. That classic Ardbeg citrus is still here, which makes sense, since this is 60% Ardbeg 10. The palate has a rough, hot edge to it on some sips, and more smoke than Ardbeg 10. Ardbegs tend to distinguish themselves with complex finishes, particularly when sherry gets involved, and Ardbog is no different. Licorice, cream, and strong smoke are the first few flavors. It's slightly bitter and herbal, as the grapefruit comes around the first turn with the lead. This is one of the smokiest, "robusto" Ardbegs I've had. Is Ardbog my favorite Ardbeg of all time? I think not, although it isn't very far from my favorites, like Ardbeg Day or Dark Cove. This is one of the Ardbeg special editions that earns its keep, rather than just paying for the salaries of LVMH's stellar marketing department.

$30 for 1 ounce at Jack Rose Sherried whiskies were better in previous years. This is not me being a snob turning my nose up at modern whiskies. This is the truth. Nobody drinks sherry anymore and the casks have run out. Nobody, at the end of their dinner, decides to enjoy an Osborne VORS sherry to cap off the night. No! Not anymore – tiramisu-eating, ADHD-afflicted fucks. The casks that once contained quality, drinkable sherry have become like a wild white rhinoceros. Modern sherry casks, at least the ones used to mature the whiskies that are still affordable, only contain undrinkable sherry, made to season the wood and be dumped, like a zoo rhinoceros miscarriage. Man, that’s dark. But not as dark as Ardbog (Segway!). You take this sherried beast and you compare it to Dark Cove – fuck it, Dark Cove Committee Release – and you can say to the Dark Cove CR, “Ha! You are not sherry matured.” Ardbog still loses out to the very first Uigeadails ever made. Those precious last few remaining wild rhinoceri, I would pay for a pour what they are charging for a bottle of Uigeadail these days. But decoding the bottle code, and just fucking finding and reading the bottle code, is too much effort for me. Ardbog is my lazy-man solution. I can easily read the label, and it takes me back to a time when Ardbeg still had an abundance of quality sherry casks. This swamp creature is heavy, oily, and peaty. Just layers and layers of mud and smoke on top of savory buttered rabbit braised in the juices of wild berries. Minerality like this will make my bones stronger - sodium and iodine. A coastal, dry sherry influence for an Islay scotch is perfection. This is actually not that complex of a Scotch, but it stands out as a young whisky that marries peat and sherry perfectly, and it is so heavy that it feels as if you accidentally spilled some onto the bar countertop, it would make a dent. There are no whiskies like this anymore. Score: ** (unimaginably good) How much does a bottle cost: $250-350 (secondary market only) How much do I think a bottle is worth: $300

A completely different Ardbeg, but unlike the "Blasda" expression, this time they got this one right. The 2013 Feis isle bottling, Ardbeg Ardbog is honouring islay's peat bogs, peat that has been formed for thousands of years, and maybe, just maybe your are drinking particles of a T-rex in this whisky. Bottled at 52.1%abv, golden color, this single malt has been matured in Bourbon and Manzanilla Sherry casks. On the nose, some crazy Ardbeg aroma notes. The first aroma is an arab rug. Caramel, mint and wet soil. Polystyrene foam (plume), an amazon box, shoe box, silicon pad, rubber and soccer socks. Yes, all that and it was great. On the palate it was absolutely surprising. Incredibly citric, speciallu for an Ardbeg, the flavor notes are tangerine, grapefruit, gooseberries. A second sip gave me orange, milk chocolate, salty water. A third sip gave me more!, coffee and oranges. Aftertaste was out of this world. Starts with a vanilla fondant, to then release a tiny demon from your guts, that rises after 10 seconds, leaving a sulphuric finish. Pepper. In Conclusion, an incredibly interesting whisky, totally different than other Ardbegs, this one is actually easier to drink. I loved it, loved the marketing, loved the overall feeling of it. Nowadays it is a little expensive, but it is still worth it. My score for it, is 100 over 100. Sláinte!

Nose: ripe strawberries, white almonds, then an old peat, feels mature, medicinal, moss, sweet rich sherry aromas, fresh cut pine tree wood - it is intense for sure. The peat is a little different to regular Ardbegs which is probably because of the interesting manzanilla sherry casks they matured it in for 10 years. It is very good. Later a lot of vanilla with a bid of lemon, butter pie, dry grass and syrupy sherry. Palate: prickly, cold and acidic, then right away a cold ash note appears - still somehow unlike what I know from regular Ardbegs. Fruity fresh and slightly sweet, then yellow fruits (peaches and that sort) as well as a bunch of citrus fruits, wood chips and fresh resin. Very much alive, super present and vibrant. Finish: strong and flavorful, intense and forever ongoing, apples, vanilla. Slightly wood-bitter. Water makes the nose less peaty but sweeter - reminds me of creamy sweetened condensed milk. This whisky makes for a very exiting and interesting dram. So intense and colorful in its aromas and flavors. I had it before in a pub some months ago and remember liking it slightly better, so I am looking forward to how it develops over time.

An intense, Single Malt Whisky from Islay, Scotland released as a limited-edition Ardbeg, during the Fèis Ìle whisky festival. Aged 10 years in a combination of bourbon as well as some Manzanilla sherry casks, it was produced for 'Ardbog Day', which was celebrated around the world on 1st June 2013. It has an aromatic birth with notes of sea salt & brine with some dark fruit & hints of barbecue, maple syrup, plum, orange, mint & more herbal notes with a touch of tomato vine & coffee; while a dry life with notes of salt crusted raisins, rich nuttiness & pickled onions; that led to a long & complex death with notes of red chili heat & paprika. July 2017 / April 2018 / August 2022