Ardbeg Dark Cove

The story and name behind this NAS offering is very reminiscent of the old moonshiners from the American South: Islanders waiting until the cover of darkness along the rocky coasts of Islay to run supplies onshore for the distilling of fresh "hooch". Ardbeg says this is the darkest whisky they've ever released and from what I've seen they are correct. Instead of the typical, straw yellow this one is a deeper, golden color. It's oily and produces a ton of long, skinny legs on the Glencairn. It smells just like every other Ardbeg: salty and smoky, albeit a bit sweeter. The smoke is, at first, restrained on the tongue. The sherry cask influence takes the stage, front and center, which is a bit different from most other Ardbegs I've had. It feels like a melted toffee candy has been folded inside an oily rag that was used to tamp out a campfire. Very rich, but not overly complex. The finish is also muted, for an Ardbeg, but incredibly smooth. The smoke is complimented by a slight bitterness and heat so that it doesn't just wash away. It lingers on until the burn from the alcohol evaporates. Overall, I don't necessarily think this was a big departure from your standard Ardbeg offering. It's not experimentally blended like Uigeadail or Corryvreckan, it's on par with the 10 year old. Which begs the question "why was this a special release?". It would make sense if this was whisky that's younger than 10 years and they are trying to get some NAS product out there that's more on par with the base juice. That's where this "fails"- I shouldn't have to pay $100 for something so close to the 10 year old in flavor. It's good stuff, just too boring for a special release. I think that's why it's still sitting on a lot of store shelves. I wish I had left it there as well. The 10 year is a 4 star whisky to me, so I'm subtracting 1 because I had to pay way too much for this bottle. I think that's fair. Cheers, my friends.

Long ago, i had the lovely chance to taste the famous Ardbeg Dark Cove Committee Release, which is a popular whisky because some enthuisasts have rated highly. This time i managed to get my hands on the "normal" release, matured in "Dark Sherry Casks" (apparently this is a made up term, i tried to find it but i couldn't) and was bottled at 46.5%abv. This was the special release for Ardbeg's Day 2016. It has a dark caramel color. On the nose, all the lovely horrible aroma notes we peat freaks cherish: a pair of cotton socks, iodine, tennis balls, a shoe box and.... passion fruit?; it smells exactly as a sports shop in a mall. After a couple of sips it gave me hints of chocolate and brownies. Letting it breath for a longer time game a fish market aroma and smoked salmon. Amazing. On the palate it is a mixture of sherry and peat. Plastic notes, earthiness, salt and Red fruot syrup. It has a pleasant pepper bomb. Strawberries are definitively a note here. Aftertaste was the best part. Starts with some burnt hay and cigarrettes, to then turn itself to a bonfire with dangerous fireworks. Gunpowder, and rubber. It is like chewing the head of those "He-Man" action figures from the 1980s. Quite the experience. Overall, this was a memorable dram right from the beggining till the end. The craziness of the peaty notes are well intertwined with the red fruitiness from the sherry casks. A beautiful single malt, my score for it is 93 over 100.

I don’t trust Scotches with “Dark” in the name. It translates to, “I am young, and I cut corners.” Right, so I’m going to go out on a limb and call this Ardbeg that is mostly 10 years old and finished in PX seasoned casks. This has become a pretty collectible Ardbeg day special release because it has obvious appeal to whisky reviewers looking for obvious flavors. A peat monster AND a sherry bomb, with PX influence to boot. Who can resist? Me. A heavily peated distillate matured in a sherry cask takes a long time to create something natural and cohesive. This whisky, in contrast, feels engineered and forced. Dark chocolate, maraschino cherry, pepper, espresso, rubber, clay, and campfire. It sounds good on paper, but the flavors just don’t play well together. I’ve never been a fan of the Ardbeg Day releases. They are enjoyable whiskies, but way overpriced. This is probably my least favorite of them all, especially because it is starting to show up at crazy secondary market prices. Score: 0 (forgettable) How much does a bottle cost: retail was $100-120, but this is hard to find at this price now. How much is a bottle on secondary market: $150-300 How much do I think a bottle is worth: $60

Nose contains several of the traditional Ardbeg notes: smoldering campfire, burning tires, brine, with a bit of mild fruit bouquet and funk notes--particularly bandages, mushrooms, and cottage cheese. Subdued relative to other Ardbeg offerings are the nutty and oily characteristics. The peat, while strident for any single malt scotch, is a notch down from most Ardbegs. Palate is dry, with far more brine than typical Islays with a taste like salted caramel with black pepper, salted pork, and mild vanilla. Here this dram is extraordinarily sharp: an effect only enhanced by the brevity of the finish. For a distillery with offerings whose finishes seem to last for days, this Ardbeg cuts off almost immediately, causing the punchy salt and pepper note to be the last impression...akin to what would happen if you took applewood smoked bacon and then suffocated it in table seasonings. There are some mocha and bitter dark chocolate notes if you look for them, but they are getting pushed around by the strident pepper.

This is a dram to treasure. The nose has an energizing tinge of coffee, offset by the standard iodine one encounters in most scotch. A few more whiffs, and the peat smoke emerges. On the tongue, the initial sensation is a surprising coolness, the type of feeling associated with peppermint, but without that specific flavor. After a moment, the taste changes, and sweetness arrives: Vanilla and toffee waltz together before you. The finish is soft and gentle, adding the faintest trace of almonds roasting somewhere in the distance. Without question, one of the best scotches I’ve had the pleasure of tasting.

Nose- Peat smoke, creamy sweetness, gigars, cocoa powder, sea salt, earthy, candied raisins Palate- Honey sweetness, peat smoke, cigar ash, rubber, raisins, figs Finish- Long, creamy finish with notes of peat smoke, rubber, and sherry sweetness This one is pretty good. Didn’t quite live up to the hype everyone gives the dark cove though. I was hoping for more sherry sweetness but still the cigar ash and peat smoke that ardbeg is known for is overpowering it. There are flashes of honey sweetness and sherry, but just not as much as id hoped for.