Ardbeg Auriverdes

It’s time for a rare, 2014 Feis Ile festival sample from Ardbeg: Auriverdes. This release was designed to honor the 2014 Men’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The colors of the Brazilian flag are green and gold and that’s how this whisky is named. Auri (gold) and verdes (green) also tie-in to the golden color of the whisky and the iconic, green bottle. The only thing done to the whisky itself is that the end caps of the casks were toasted to impart a more charred flavor into the NAS whisky. It’s bottled at 49.9% ABV and is NCF with no added colorant. It’s a deep, golden yellow in the glass with thin, undefined legs and tiny droplets. The nose is primarily smoked brisket, oak spirals and fire pit smoke. The secondary flavors are slightly minty, eucalyptus leaves and some lemon zest that’s traditionally associated with Ardbeg. They aren’t reinventing the wheel with this release at all. The palate is both campfire smoke and earthy peat and there’s a faint sherry sweetness and vanilla note arriving at mid sip. The youthful spirit powers the backend, while being oily and warming. The mouthfeel is on the lighter side and turns dry towards the finish. Speaking of finish, it’s medium length with a very light sweetness and smoke. Earthy minerals linger and turn the final bits a tad bitter and harsh. It doesn’t turn the experience bad, but it also doesn’t help matters either. As a festival release, I was slightly disappointed. There no real experimentation going on here. Bottles have all but disappeared from store shelves and you’ll have to head to an auction site to find one now. Prices have remained steady with this one- $80-100 a bottle should win you one, but I’m not sure it’s worth that price, honestly. Stick with the 10yo or the An Oa for $20-30 less. Thanks to my buddy @Telex, from Maryland, for this sample pour. I have a couple bottles of this, as I’ve put together a few Ardbeg Feis Ile sets, but I see no reason to open them. They are moderately collectible, so that’s how I’ll keep them. 3.5-3.75 stars. Cheers.

Thanks to @Telex for sending over a generous pour of this beauty. This is an Ardbeg from 5 yrs ago, marketed during the FIFA Men’s World Cup in Brazil. Hence the name “Aurivedes”, which means gold and blue. Now what Whisky and the World Cup have in common, who knows? Just a well timed marketing opportunity. With that said, now that I think of it, really pisses me off that not a single distillery bothered marketing anything for the Women’s World Cup...at least would’ve been a good opportunity to have an American craft distillery use Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle or Meghan Rapinoe. Where was the Swedish distillery Smogen showcasing their pride? And the Dutch distillery Millstone leveraging Danielle van de Donk, the amazing midfielder? Anyway...I’m off my soap box and now to the business at hand: This is an Ardbeg. It’s good. Enough said. It’s young, overly expensive, and damn freakin’ good with sweet tar, smoked herring, and lemon zest. But with that said, would I buy this over their 10, Uigi, or Corey? Nope. I firmly believe that with Ardbeg, their core lineup is so damn good that there’s really no reason to fall for their one off marketing gimmicks ( which result in good Whisky, just not better than the core). Leave the annual Ardbeg Day releases to the lunatics that scour the Internet looking for it. Leave the Feis Ile bottlings to the ultra-faithful. The real pot of gold is in their very much affordable, easily available, and amazing core lineup. Thanks @Telex...another good Ardbeg.

On May 31, 2014, for Ardbeg Day; and, commemorating the World Cup in Brazil that started one day later, Ardbeg released a special edition called "Auriverdes" representing of course the "Scratch du oro" (Brazil's football team) but also the bottles of this famous distillery, which are green and their whisky is gold. Right off the bat you feel the aromatic profile of Ardbeg peat, but tamed. Moss, pineapple all over, grapefruit and cigarettes. Smells like a farm pond; the peat comes and goes intertwining with the citrus and tropical aromas. BBQ sauce, bacon, ashtray, lemon and lime. Super complex, if you move the Glencairn it changes. White wine. After the first sip, it gave me 2 totally new tasting notes for me: old stamps and old wet paint, the kind that falls off when the wall is damp. The palate is fruity, currants and grapefruit. Very smooth, feels like the peat is background in a fireplace, but not invasive. Vanilla. Aftertaste follows the same path: cigarettes, tobacco, pepper, grilled grain salt, very sulfuric. Burnt hay, pepper and ashtray. Overall, this is a tremendous whisky, because of the interesting tasting notes, specially on the nose. Being a terrible soccer fan and Brazil 2014 World Cup lover, I was dying to try it. My score for this great single malt is 90 out of 100.

Peat. Loved or hated. For those who love it, Ardbeg may be the standard of peated scotches. Their core/standard range of scotches are benchmarks, measures as to the quality of a peated scotch. Thanks to @Telex for offering this sample, from way back when. As it rests and opens, images of a chilled autumn beach days comes to mind. Cedar wraps containing bacon, smoked with spearmint notes waft with a maritime brine. Not dense in peat. Rich. Dark honey, dark roast coffee and dark chocolate shavings with an earthiness. A slick texture with sweetness and earth. Sherry with dark chocolate, lemon citrus, charcoal. There is a youthful spiciness that doesn’t appear until late towards the beginning of the finish with cracked black pepper and ground cinnamon. A long lasting finish with the spicy tingle slowly fading into charcoal, tobacco, oak and the associated drying tannins. This is an Ardbeg-lite. The normally strong peat and earth are diluted, comparatively to, say, the 10 year. It’s enjoyable though the lack of maturity has deprived the dram of more potential flavors. In fairness, it’s a solid dram but is outshined by the core three. It will appeal; enjoyable, youthful but lacks a bit comparatively to its siblings. [87/100][Tasted: 2/13/21]

I indulged in a pour of Auriverdes at a whiskey bar in Vancouver, and was quite excited since I hadn't seen it anywhere in the States for a while. It's interesting but not worth the premium over the regular lineup. The nose had a wine twist to complement some Ardbeg smoke, but it felt like a bit of a cooking wine -- a little more vinegar and tartness. At times I also picked up a milky note and some hay. The palate initially was sweet as well, with some orchard fruits, and the mid- and back palate were dominated by a roar of nice, complex, charred Ardbeg smoke. The finish has a coffees and cream duo, as the smoke lingers, but there weren't a rush of flavors. I've found the distillery's special editions are a little hit and miss, but always worth trying. And its price, however, I'd just opt for a bottle of 10 and a bottle of Uigeadail and have two whiskies I prefer to this one. It'd be around a 4-star for me if priced at $80 or below, but at $120+ I'll knock it down to 3.5.

You gotta love the marketing folks at Ardbeg. This was originally made to commemorate the World Cup last year ( Auri = gold and Verdes = green...the color of Brazil's national team). I'm still trying to link the Brazilian team to Islay whisky----but I'm sure it's beyond me. The lovely sport of futbol aside, this is actually a really good whisky. Peat and citrus on the nose, followed by a coffee and chocolate, and ending with a campfire note on the finish. Given the price tag, I'm sure you're paying more for the marketing machine than the whisky...but price aside, it's a pretty good dram. On a side note...if I were an Ardbeg marketer linking this to Brazil, I'd probably have it finished in caipirinha casks. Probably wouldn't make for a good whisky though.