by Oliver Klimek on March 11, 2010
2010 Committee bottling – 57.3%
My Tasting Notes:
Color: White wine
Nose: Very intense, smoky, slightly medicinal, sea shore, lemon, orange
Palate: Peat, liquorice, salt, lemon peel, ginger, a bit of honey
Finish: Very long, dry, smoky and a bit salty
Overall: The Rollercoaster received slightly mixed reviews, but I really like it. The vatting of 10 vintages gives is an astonishing complexity. Overall character is rather dry compared with the standard 10yo
Score: 90/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
Side note: Read about the launch problems in Ardbeg’s online shop.
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
by Oliver Klimek on March 2, 2010
Bourbon Hogshead 1683 – 46%
My Tasting Notes:
Color: Pale straw
Nose: Dry smoke, even a bit medicinal, lemon.
Palate: Quite smoky and phenolic, citrus fruit, vanilla, a touch of honey
Finish: Very long, sweet and smoky
Overall: An amazing peated Speysider. I think it can be best described as “clean peat”. Without the maritime character of the Islay malts but with a distinctive medicinal character that comes close to that of a Laphroaig. And yet it is surprisingly smooth. What a great whisky!
Score: 90/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
by Oliver Klimek on February 28, 2010
Buy at the Whisky Exchange
57%
My Tasting Notes:
Color: Bright amber
Nose: Burnt down bonfire, spicy sea breeze, just a very faint fruitiness.
Palate: Peat and pepper, but also a bit of salt and slightly herbal note.
Finish: Very long, smoky and spicy, some sweetness is noticeable later
Overall: An excellent dram, I like it a tad better than the standard 10yo. Fruiter nose but peatier and spicier palate.
Score: 88/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
by Oliver Klimek on February 23, 2010
Buy at the Whisky Exchange
Vatting of three ages and three peat levels – 46%
My Tasting Notes:
Color: White wine
Nose: Fireplace, Atlantic jetty, oranges
Palate: Peat, a basket of citrus fruit, vanilla, seaweed, just a little sugar and a little salt
Finish: Very long, peaty and fruity
Overall: A very nice vatting, quite peaty but the typical Laddie fruitiness is always present.
Score: 86/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
by Oliver Klimek on February 12, 2010
The peaty whisky from Springbank distilery – 46%
My Tasting Notes:
Color: Straw
Nose: Very intense, peat, citrus, some vanilla
Palate: Very peaty, smoked ham, lemon, vanilla, quite spicy but also sweet
Finish: Very long, sweet and spicy smoke
Overall: About as spicy as the Springbank CV, but here the peat acts as a strong counterpart. Sweetness and fruitiness are enhanced by a few drops of water. Nice!
Score: 84/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
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Rating: 6.5/10 (2 votes cast)
by Oliver Klimek on February 11, 2010
46%
My Tasting Notes:
Color: Gold
Nose: “Farmy” at the beginning, becoming more maritime and slightly fruity (orange) over time
Palate: Slightly peaty, a strange mix of caramel and chili, oranges
Finish: Rather long, spicy smoke
Overall: The nose takes a while to open up and actually becomes very pleasant, but the palate cannot quite live up to that. The spicyness is too dominant for my taste as it is not sufficiently counterbalanced by the other flavour components. There are notable similarities to the Hazelburn CV which I definitively prefer over the Springbank.
Score: 74/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
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Rating: 7.5/10 (2 votes cast)
by Oliver Klimek on January 29, 2010
45.8%
My Tasting Notes:
Nose: Very intense, maritime smokiness meets dried fruit
Palate: Peaty and spicy, but also with notes of raisins and dark chocolate
Finish: Long, dry smoke, slightly sweet
Overall: The old version has much more sherry influence than its modern brother. I wouldn’t say it’s better, but it is intriguingly different.
Score: 86/100 – No price information as this is a collector’s bottle
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
by Oliver Klimek on January 27, 2010
3 yo – 46%
My Tasting Notes:
Nose: Camp fire, farmyard, sea breeze, citrus fruit
Palate: Peat, salt, very fruity, a bit musty
Finish: Quite long, fruity peat
Overall: It’s still very immature but shows a lot of promise for the future. Too close to newmake to be fully enjoyable for me at this stage of maturation.
Score: 73/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
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Rating: 7.0/10 (1 vote cast)
by Oliver Klimek on January 25, 2010
54.2%
My Tasting Notes:
Nose: Intense nose of peat and smoked ham, with water, notes of dried fruit emerge
Palate: Very peaty, smoked bacon, but also chocolate, caramel and raisins
Finish: Very long with a smoky sweetness
Overall: A powerful dram where a bit of sherry successfully underlines the typical Ardbeg flavour profile
Score: 91/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
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Rating: 9.5/10 (2 votes cast)
by Oliver Klimek on January 18, 2010
Batch #1 – 55.3 %
My Tasting Notes:
Nose: Grilling sausages over a campfire, sea breeze, grapefruit
Palate: Peaty and sweet, caramel, ripe citrus fruit, spicy
Finish: Very long, sweet and smoky
Overall: This is Springbank’s interpretation of the Quarter Cask, and it’s a successful experiment. My favourite Springbank so far (although I haven’t had too many yet). It is surprisingly peaty with both a youthful punch and a mature complexity.
Score: 89/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
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