Ardbeg Very Young

Tasted in Whisky Magazine Issue 50 by Martine Nouet and Dave Broom.

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Tasting Notes

Martine Nouet Nose Spirity, prickly. A definite phenolic expression. Boat tar, coal dust, kippers. With lighter grassy and herbal aromas. Smoke from the kiln with a pungent peat scent. Palate Same sweet maltiness. Then a huge smoky taste, a salty feel on the tongue. Finish Dry, spicy, with a light smoky “leftover”. Comment great interplay of sweet and dry flavours. More phenolic at start, smoke is more integrated than in Bowmore or Caol Ila.

Dave Broom Nose Intense and pungent with dry smoke and a cereal edge. Dried seaweed, into soot and light creosote, slightly Arbroath smokie. Under this is a sweet zesty lime note, Oddfellows. Palate Intensely phenolic. A fug of dry smoke hits dominating a mix of salt and sweet. Soot, lanolin and white pepper. Gallus as we say in Glasgow. Finish Hot, smoky, lingering. Dry. Comment Not yet opened up. Dry smoke, malt and some sweetness still sizing each other up.