Summer is here and it is time to enjoy sunny days and whiskies! I have spent some days in Sweden this Summer visiting friends, friends who also love whisky!
The very first whisky I was served in Sweden was an Ardbeg. This is a single cask bottling from the independent bottler Master of Malt. The whisky was distilled 10 April 2003 and bottled 25 November 2015, which makes it 12 YO. The cask, a refill hogshead #31142, gave 243 bottles. It was bottled at cask strength 52 ABV.
Really rich and complex on the nose with a lot of things happening. Smoke and ashes. Sweet and spicy with vanilla, white pepper and nutmeg. Lemon and orange peel. Dusty (if you know what I mean). Actually the smell reminds me of candy shaped like Coca Cola bottles! Rich and complex on the palate as well. The smoke is dominating at first. Then comes licorice, lemon, white pepper and chilli. The finish is spicy at first with a lot of pepper. Then sweet like sugar syrup. The smoke finishes off the taste. This was a really elegant whisky.
My score: nose 23 / taste 23 / finish 22 / balance 23 = 91
Thanks, Patrick!
– Tone
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