Ardbeg 'Ord Mor' for TWE

bottled 25/4/2012

sample from a friend

I'm pretty certain that these are the specs of the bottle. I wasn't able to find out anything else about it or confirm that this bottle was out there, but it's what was put on the label for me!

Nose: This starts off silent, but elegant and right up my alley. Light peat and smoke, though rather more on sweet barley and gentle fruit. Honey, lemon, and grapefruit. With time, the peat gains strength, but it is not a monster yet. Reminds me more of some of those older Ardbegs with the fruit -- not just a brutal peat monster. Almost even waxiness in it, too. (with water) Water brings out more of the graceful characteristics with honey and vanilla, and cuts an elegant figure with peat and seaweed, and also draws out more fruit. Lemon, apricot, ginger (it's not a fruit, but I'm noting it here), melon, and pear. More sweet barley. Beautiful stuff.

Palate: There's no way that this is 62.5%. It's rich, but oddly gentle in the mouth. Honey, dried peat, wax, lemon, and some bog. Were it not for the bog, you could almost think that this was a peated Highland. Pretty decent. (with water) A little harsher and more ashy, but really about the same.

Finish: I'm still surprised at the ease of drinking this. The nose is really gorgeous, though the palate just misses a bit and takes the complexity and 'bigness' that one would expect in something like this. All the same, really top-notch.

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