It's always nice to return back to Scotland during a tour of whiskies around the world, and where better to highlight than one of the most celebrated whisky brands in the modern whisky world. It goes without saying that Ardbeg distillery has gained what can only be seen as Superstar status in recent years off the back of some stellar releases. This has spawned the start of what is known as the Ardbeg Committee and its Committee releases. Highly sought after and holding significant investment value, the Ardbeg Committee releases are one of the highlights of Ardbeg's yearly releases. This year, the Committee's release has been named the Alligator.
Its name is spawned from the level of charring in the cask before it is used to hold maturing whisky. The Charring or toasting of the inside of the cask releases flavours locked within the wood (vanillin for example is a common flavour found in wood) and the highest level of char, the Level 4 char, is called the 'Alligator' as the wood post-charring has a consistency and look that resembles the scaly hide of the Alligator. The whisky in the Ardbeg Alligator, hence, have gone through a period of maturation in these heavily charred barrels.
Now that is all to it, but the folks at Ardbeg have managed to spin a very attractive PR tale about Alligators on the Isle of Islay, as well as run a very attractive looking advertising campaign to sell the product. The Alligator also comes with a nice little mini booklet that is replete with a poem on the whisky (Biding time and scarcely seen, quiet it waits, encased in green...) and a very entertaining set of tasting notes with very oriental allusions... Personally as a Singaporean I never really had my bak choi smoked, but I can imagine what it will taste like...
I personally am a bit afraid of over-hyping, it potentially leads to disappointment, or in other cases, it becomes a case of using marketing to cover up a product's flaws. However, Ardbeg has been hitting it out of the ball park more often than not in recent years so I still had high hopes for this dram. Let's see how it goes.
Name: Ardbeg Alligator Committee Release
Distillery: Ardbeg (Islay)
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: No Age Statement
Alc/Vol: 51.2%
Nose: Loads of BBQ and tomato sauce, leather, citrus and vanilla. Smells alot like the pizza base of a certain cafe in Singapore that I frequent that makes a base out of tomato paste, Hoisin and BBQ sauce. Sweet, smoky, citric all at once. Hints of some strong tea as well. Interestingly the smoke is very faint (23)
Taste/Palate: Sweet entry before a real pungent smoke hits with notes of more leather, strong black or red tea and some espresso. The smoke is sweet with slight notes of seaweed and a bit of vegetables (is this the smoked bak choi?) and some BBQ sauce and spice as well. (22)
Finish: The smokiness lingers for a long time with a nice sweetness and notes of vanilla. Interesting that the leathery notes continue on as well, but the sweet smoke dominates through the finish (22)
Overall: For a while I had this whisky at around 88/100, but its overall balance, richness and flavour shows that Ardbeg has not lost its magic. A resounding whisky that lives up to all the advertising hype! (23) 90/100
Found at: The Auld Alliance (and my place!)
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