Occasional Whisky Review
I’ve decided to put this under spiritual stuff as well as general, because… hey, it’s a spirit. Besides…
No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach - 1 Timothy 5:23
Alcohol played a large part in the life of the early church and, protestations of certain denominations and other adversarial religions to the contrary, it is something that should be cherished and considered a blessing.
Anyway. Today’s whisky is one called Ardbeg, which rather ostentatiously declares itself to be “the best whisky in the world” or some such rot. I can tell you right now it isn’t, but it is pretty good.
Ardbeg is a Islay, and obviously one. You can smell it the moment you open up the bottle, that distinct oak and burnt earth smell that seems so particular to Islays. The nose is a little smoother than Laphroaig, and a little less characterful in some ways, moreso in others. There’s hints of resin and freshly cut mahogany, which is probably the same thing…
The taste, too, is islay to the core. Again, it is smoother than Laphroaig and Lagavulin, but retains most of the characteristic bite of an Islay. It’s a little uneven on the pallate though; where the other two southern Islays will claw at your tongue and the roof of your mouth before rewarding you with the more generous aftertastes, Ardbeg tends to stick to your tongue and the back of your cheeks, and the aftertastes are a little less bitter than its two cousins, and less rewarding as a result. Otherwise it flows quite nicely down the throat, again with the characteristic cutting bite of an Islay. Definitely not a whisky to be casually approached. Ardbeg will probably best accompany a meal of salmon or trout, or even scampi at a pinch, and is best shared with others in a dimly lit room over a game of some sort, or after (or even during, if you have a flask) a long day of walking.
Overall, again, the drink is a little uneven, but it’s good enough if you want to keep the Islay taste but aren’t willing to stretch to the Lagavulin.
update 2007-08-27
On second tasting it seems my initial judgement was unfair. This drink is still not as good as the lag, but it’s much more rounded and full-bodied than I first gave it credit. The uneveness I tasted was probably exaggerated a little by the presence of some other flavours from another drink. Or maybe even the smell of my computer. Who knows?
