‘Dreeamy'
N: The bar tender pours, he sniffs, and then says “Dreeamy”, before passing me a complimentary dram, and not a bad place to start at all. The spirit and peat take centre stage as equals with the wood showing confidently, green wood, like Hazelburn's Rundlets and Kilderkins. The peat is never over stated, more in the background than the standard Ardbeg 10 but with the same intensity. Toffee and caramel on show, pumpernickel bread, washing detergent, shoe polish, actually its more like wax protector for barber coats, green chestnuts, sweet baby bio and a touch of fresh cigars.
T: Sugary sweet peat with cigar smoke, ice-cream wafer and a fruit cordial core. Oils develop with a slick body throughout, the peat hinting at Laphroaighs TCP profile as well as the candy bar sweetness of Octomore. Lots of chilli pepper throughout. Add water for a sweet oily laphroaigesque mouthful with a strong aniseed development. Drinking this Ardbog neat however offers a sublime and balanced combination of wood, spirit, peat and oils thats hard not to like
F: After a long development of wood and spices the finish is comparably shorter as theres a noticeable drop off. Vanilla wafer with fresh wood spices and saline notes are revealed before becoming sweet. That green wood shows through right at the end demonstrating some decent oak.
C: Initially amazing but less sublime as the spirit went down. For me the strength of Ardbog is in the nose and subsequent arrival. Its a very nice expression and i can see why its gained many fans. Its not overly complex, not even on the nose but it’s a sublime cocktail indeed. Similar in style to Laphroaigs An Cuan Mor, like an Ardbeg/Laphroaig fusion - now theres a blending idea.
Scores a B