Nose is a weird kind of rubbery, like a brand new blow-up pool toy. That Ardbeg musty aspect is here, of course along with earthy peat smoke, and a little chicken broth.
Palate is nice and sherried, milder overall, smoke restrained. Cough syrup kind of grapey-cherry flavor (without the sweetness of such products), maybe not the ideal kind of sherry cask here.
You know it's weird, there are lots of "B" reviews I give that sound praiseworthy -- and I do like this very much -- but with a heavily sherried Ardbeg like this it's hard not to have your expectations be very high (perhaps unreasonably so). While I've grown a little tired of some of the kick-your-ass-with-intense-peat Ardbegs of recent issue, this one has me wishing for a little bit more in the palate. No doubt great to drink, dangerously easy to do so, but the complexities in here are too muted to make me do backflips. That's not to say I wouldn't do them anyway if you showed up at my door with a bottle of this, cause I would! B/B+
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