Ardbeg Scorch

Rating: 17/23 I don't remember what the gimmick was here. I'd guess either rum barrels or toasted barrels or charred barrels. N: After a couple of minutes, I start smelling Ardbeg tar mixed with something a tad sweet. Blackstrap molasses? A hint of toastiness comes out, then it becomes herbal with a definite dry tilt to it. I get black and white pepper, though more black. A touch of anise. A little bit of roast meat eventually makes its way in. That rich sweetness gradually builds and I start getting more molasses from it and faint hints of green banana. It also gets a tad vegetal. Tar, sweet molasses (almost with occasion hints of maple), spices, and smoked meat are the big things I get here. And it definitely seems a bit toasty. P: Much richer with more toasty character than Ardbeg Arrrrrdbeg has. There's that usual tar with some added smoke, but there's also a little sweetness that makes me think faintly of molasses. This is sweeter and a bit less complex than Ardbeg Ten is. It's maybe fuller, but not by a ton. Between the two, I'd actually guess that this is younger. There's also some more harshness. Giving this some time on my tongue, I do get some decent complexity. Tar mixes with smoke, mixes with iodine, gives way to caramelly barrel, adds in a touch of vanilla, carries its floral note back through the peat, and into some minerals and brine. A nice layer of smoked meat with toasty wood. Hints of dungeness crab. Eventually oaky with a big flavor of new oak vanilla. F:Toasty, peaty, smoky, vanilla. Not a super complex finish, but a tasty one with enough going on. This isn't as fruity as Ardbeg 10 and now that I try them side by side, I get more bourbon character from Ardbeg 10 as well. The Ardbeg 10 is a touch sweeter but less full. It also has less of a burn and has some more complexity though. This is also more refined than Ardbeg An Oa. I much prefer the sweet vanilla here to the An Oa's weird barbecue/campfire flavor. That said, the vanilla sweetness here does still mess with the maturity, though nice brown sugar, smoky, and fruity (candied orange) complexities do come out. This is sort of like a single barrel offering that was made well but didn't quite hit the mark. Still, this is at least a 16. At most, this might be an 18. I find Laphroiag 10 (17) to be a tad better than this, but not tremendously superior. So I'm looking at a 16 or 17. I'm a little torn, but I think that there's enough complexity for the 17. Thank you @PBMichiganWolverine for sharing a sample of this! I was glad to get to try it after missing my chance to find it in the wild.

Review #078 Type: single malt scotch Proof: 46% Comments: NAS, matured in heavily charred ex-bourbon casks Tasted after: first up Appearance (no score): Russet color. Swirling reveals a thin line sticking to the side of the glass, legs are slow to form. Nose: 16/20 Black smoke and vanilla are most prominent. There’s also hints of barbecued meats, rusted metal, and briny coastal breeze. Strangely enough, maybe a few soap suds also? Palate: 34/40 Sooty ashes and smoked ham greet the palate. Searching deeper, there’s adhesive bandages (reminds me of how Laphroaig 10 smells), heavy cream, vanilla, black pepper, and citrus zest too. Finish: 32/40 Medium-long finish. It’s soot and wet ashes that kick it off, and this runs through to the end mingling with some mild briny and rubber flavors, then a bit of oak spice appears at the very end. With Water: A couple drops of water makes the nose is a bit sweeter, with yellow apples and cinnamon sugar. It also introduces some spicy oak tannins to the palate, but dilutes the other flavors too much. Total: 82/100 Final thoughts: This is a really nice whisky, but it’s not worth the price tag. I’m glad I had an opportunity to try it, but I’m sorry I had to buy a whole bottle to do so. I like the influence that the heavy charred casks had on the spirit, but watered down and muted a bit too much I think. I can’t help but wonder what the committee release version tastes like. Price: $110 Would recommend: no Would buy: no Scoring Legend: 96-100: The perfect dram, absolutely exceptional, nectar of the gods, I will savor this bottle and make it last, 5 stars. 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky, 4.75 stars. 85-89: Very good to amazing, almost the complete product, 4.5 stars. 80-84: Quite good, very enjoyable to drink, but doesn’t wow me, 4.25 stars. 75-79: Good, enjoyable but ultimately flawed, unlikely to purchase again, 4 stars. 70-74: A solid dram, but wouldn't go out of my way to get it, 3.75 stars. 55-69: Drinkable, 3.5-2.75 stars. Below 55: Suitable for cooking or direct contribution to the kitchen sink drain, 2.5 stars or less.

I was lucky get this 2021 release as late in the game as I did. I haven’t been quite as diligent about grabbing these releases as I have been with the Cairdeas line. That’s partly do to sporadic pricing and inferior distribution. Because these tend to be solid when I do get them. The Scorch is aged in heavily-charred bourbon barrels. This should play well with the Ardbeg spirit—I think Ardbeg is the pound-for-pound PPM king of all the Islay distilleries. Nose: All the classics. Peat smoke and sulfur. Campfire smoke and iodine. Ammonia. Bandaid. Brine and sea salt. Heavy on tennis ball—this one is opening up a brand new three-ball tube. Black bean red pepper chili. Lemon and lime citrus. Sugar cookie. Spearmint. Vanilla custard. Hazelnut. Cinnamon and black pepper. Palate: Heavy again on the black bean red pepper chili. Red hot tamales. Vanilla custard. Salted caramel and peanut butter. Butterscotch. Ballpark soft pretzel. Hookah smoke and iodine. The campfire smoke is fairly prominent here as well. Some banana walnut muffin. Cinnamon and black pepper. Finish: Rich dark chocolate. Saltwater taffy. Ballpark pretzel. Sugar cookie and butterscotch. Spearmint. Black bean red pepper chili. Hazelnut. Moderate length. Smoke, brine, iodine, and bandaid. Moderate length. This is a winner. The profile-cask interaction and is excellent. It’s incredibly versatile in terms of notes and spans Islay funk, brine, smoke to orchard fruit and confectionary sweetness. It really is an enjoyable whisky. The concept here is incredibly simple. And though it lacks the age statement, this handily beats the Lagavulin 11 Charred Cask, which is probably the closest comparable you could come up with. At $96, this is about as close to MSRP as I could’ve gotten. Well worth the price of admission if you ask me. I ought not neglect this line going forward. Though it may be the least consistent of Islay’s big 3 limited release lines, there are diamonds the Ardbeg rough like this one that simply cannot be skipped. 4.75/5.

This one appears to be a late to the game of Game of Thrones style whisky marketing with Ardbeg’s marketing people making the simplistic idea of Drogon dragon scorching barrels. So I guess the thought would be that after Daenerys Targaryen is flown away by her dragon Drogon, they land in Islay and Drogon picks up charring barrels for Ardbeg instead of charring King’s Landing. So how does dragon charred whisky barrels affect the whisky taste, thankfully @PBMichiganWolverine gave me a sample to find out. The nose starts with a medium peat smoke and freshly cut open vanilla pod, followed by soft orchard fruit (pears, peaches, apples) before chocolate nibs and spices of ginger, lemongrass and fresh bandages with light ethanol burn. The taste is a thin mouthfeel starting with fruits of orange, charred lemon and grapefruit followed by light vanilla pudding with campfire ash before spices of ginger, lemongrass and medium tannic oak with light ethanol burn that finishes short with campfire ash, chocolate nibs, soft fruits of peaches, mangos and papaya and lingering tannic oak. This is actually very mediocre and thin to the point the taste seems watered down making notes hard to find outside of peat and wood. The nose is light and enjoyable, but going in for a taste the mid-palate goes to a mix of campfire ash with tannic oak that continues through the finish. You basically get King’s Landing that has been Drogon scorched in liquid form with some fruits mixed in. If you’re wondering how this compares to other Ardbeg whisky though, I ran it through them all and it wasn’t even close to competing with any of them including the cheapest of Wee Beastie that you can find for under $50. Wee Beastie is a thicker mouthfeel with more flavors and a longer finish. So if you want to buy an Ardbeg, my recommendation is to skip the $120+ these cost and go for anything in their core line.

This is the best offering since Kelpie or Dark Cove. Since Ardbeg has switched from their briny offerings to sweet profiles the Fest of Islay limited editions have been very good especially for NAS whisky. The briny ones were good though too. This one even though it's not on the brine side this is the best one yet IMO. Not sure if this is Mickey Heads going out on a high note or the new guard showing what great things they can do but this one is a winner. Nose make no mistake it's Ardbeg smoke is 1st. Then an almost Laphroaig medicinal note that is immediately replaced by ripe strawberries and raspberries. Then heavy syrup like malt notes appear and hiding way in the back is the citrus zest that is in every Ardbeg. Palate is sweet smoke, the sweet berry fruit notes along with a light peach note. Then the vanilla bean and vanilla cream show up big time a result of those wood sugars via heavy char barrels. Finally your left with some light wood and sweet smoke notes. Finish is a creeping pepper note with the sweet smoke and wood with some lingering vanilla sweetness and a mint after taste. Water actually kills the berries, sweetness and turns down the smoke on the nose. The medicinal note is much bigger becoming Campbeltown industrial in nature, the malt is more noticed and an alcohol note appears in lack of anything else. Palate with water keeps the sweetness but like a sweet tart candy and the vanilla cream stays because of the oils. The pepper note is ramped up with water and the mint notes are there in the end of the palate and stays with the wood and pepper through the finish. As is; was sweeter and had more depth with water makes it harsher and more a sweet Campbeltown. Think Kilkarren mixed with Tobermory and then just drink it neat.

Neat. Neck pour. On the nose, the sweetness is catching my attention. Everything surrounding the peat is very sweet. The peat is a lovely camp fire, throw some pine cones and fresh wood. The sweetness is brighter than I suspected. It’s like vanilla Royal frosting on top of vanilla ice cream. The fruit is coming through again and that is bright as well. Lemon and lemon zest. Next to the peat is a nice independent layer of oak that lends balance to the whole experience. Lovely creamy mouthfeel. Immediately, it’s just very very bright and sweet. Like a lemon Fun Dip (flavored sugar). Bright sweetness dominates mid palate with all that vanilla. The lemon is morphing into more of an orange. The peat is less aggressive than I expected, hangs on the experience like a thin layer of fog. The finish brings in this nice layer of spice. Pepper and clove. The more I get acclimated to it, it is less bright and the vanilla is less aggressive. I would equate it to licking the outside of a cloved honey baked ham that was maybe baked too long or too high a temp and got a bit charred. Quite delicious. It was not the experience I was expecting based on the name and packaging. I was expecting it to be more aggressive. This is one to take your time with too. 30 minutes into the experience, it really started to change and that brought in these extra lovely layers that were not immediately accessible. No regrets spending $130 on this.