Ardbeg Smoketrails Côte Rôtie Edition

Travel rerail is a tricky place. It’s like being transported to the bazaars of India , Morocco or Turkey. You have these aggressive sales folks that try to convince you that the bottle they have is “one of a kind”, and “ can’t buy anywhere else”, or, my favorite one so far —- “ i know the head distiller, and he personaly told me this is the best they’ve made yet”. But once in a while, you do find a gem. Far and few in between, but it happens every so often. The firet SmokeTrails was case and point. That as a Manzanilla one, which i thiught paired really well with the smoke of Ardbeg. The dry wine added a layer of complexity above and beyond what Ardbeg normally offers. Based on how good that first one was, I automatically bought this second release. Nornally, my rule of thumb is that if I dont like that wine, i wont buy the whiskey finiahed in that wine. I dont like Manzanilla. I find it dry. But i lobed that first SmokeTrails finished in Manzanilla. So…i dont like Cote Rotie. But i fugured Ardbeg + Cote Rotie might be good based on the previous experience. I was wrong. This nose has a muted Ardbeg nose. Either the wine took over, or this just has low PPMs. Im getting smoke and something herbal on the palette …thyme? Along with saline , lemons. I’m not getting any wine influence. In fact everything is muted. The smoke, saline, everything. It’s as if they took Ardbeg and stripped what makes Ardbeg an Ardbeg. It’s not bad…just not good.

typical Ardbeg to its core - harsh and salty, biting in smoke, soul-crushing - it’s on the other side of the peat style spectrum yet it is still balanced, no real problems here, some of the red-wine barrel nuances are well pronounced giving the taste somewhat thinner “tannic” effect

Batch 2 of the Smoketrails Traveller's Exclusive edition. A youngish whisky with fruity red wine influence and subtle peat. Rather dry finish. Has the edge (barely) over the first edition Manzanilla finish.

Similar to the Ardberg An Oa, you get their signature peat with an added sweatness. It's not as complex as the 10YO or the Ugi but still a highly enjoyable dram.

Light upfront similar to some of their older expressions. Opens up into some camphor and tea tree with a lingering smooth finish.

Smoky, vegetal and coastal on the nose. Salty, vegetal peat and grilled bacon on palate. Ashy/chimney peat on the finish