Ardbeg Corryvreckan

This is the one of the 3 not overly marketed offerings from Ardbeg that are the standard range for a few years now. 9 year old Bourbon and French Burgundy oak aged heavily peated malt, married together and bottled at a very high (cask?) strength. Got it online for €55,- I must say I really like the packaging on this. A sturdy carton box with shiny gold Celtic patterns, bevelled printing, and even a little joke on the side.

Appearance: Nice copper colour and thick slow legs.

Nose: without water its just a bit too heavy so I put in 2 teaspoons of water in a good +-30ml serve. Tarry smoke, bbq trout, charred fresh oak, medicinal herbal oil, forest mushrooms, pine resin, seaweed, furniture polish, new leather and some dried fruit like apricot and raisins. Its a very big beefy nose with even some flowery smells after a good 5 minutes.

Palate: Comes in sophisticated, very quickly and assertive but not overly agressive. Without water its very heavy on the alcohol but not undrinkable at all and small sips are manageable. With water the experience gets a bit softer but certainly more interesting. I like that it really coats your mouth. What I get is: Big fresh charred oak, tar, freshly baked bread, dark earth, JD full flavor smoky BBQ sauce, Jerk pork, cloves, baked Lobster, chalk, seasalt, seaweed, deep sea plankton (in lack of a better term, very organic fishy notes) also after a few minutes I get some of the lighter floral/veggie notes and it becomes a little creamier. Brambles!

Finish: Enormous and long, bittersweet and beefy with lots of aromatic smoke, Black pepper, tar, bitterdry oak, dark roast coffee, tree bark, raw organic oil and yes the Islay iodine:)

Wow, this is a very lively, fresh, complex and brutally powerful whisky. Quite alike the Oogie, typically Ardbeg but drier and more complex pronounced oak, but way less fruit. It really couldn't be from anywhere else but Islay, it's unmistakable. You'd think it is older than 9 years as well, the French oak must me of good quality and/or re-charred. If this whisky was a classical music piece, it would be Stravinsky-Rite of Spring or something from Shostakovich. Dark, emotional, a bit chaotic but well performed and sophisticated. Only critical note (for some) that I have is that I couldn't drink this everyday, so intense that it is.

An Islay fans must buy for the special moments.

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