Ardbeg is a distillery that loves its marketing. This is not a slight against the distillery, just a fact of the marketplace. But Ardbeg likes to have fun with their one-off yearly committee releases. No two are alike and they are not afraid to embrace a story. Even if it involves flavor dragons and terrible puns. The Ardbeg Scorch is their 2021 committee release and the box is bedecked with artful flavor dragons breathing, presumably, flavor fire. The Scorch in the name derives from the heavy char Ardbeg gave to the barrels this scotch matured in for an undisclosed period of time. Whether you embrace the fanciful story or not, however, the flavor abides.
Distillery: Ardbeg
Region: Islay
Age: NAS
Strength: 46%
Price: $119.99
Maturation: Heavily charred ex-bourbon barrels
Location: Port Ellen
Nose: Black olive brine, leather, char, lemon, peat, honey, golden raisins, apple blossoms
Palate: Brine, pepper, candy cinnamon, lemon, peat, oak, green olives
Finish: Peat, char, black pepper, brine, cherrywood, rum raisin
Comments: Water is not needed but is worth exploring if you want to rebalance the elements slightly.
Adam – Fires by the seashore. The Ardbeg Scorch opens with brine on the nose for me followed immediately by a vegetal peat. Once you make it through that layer, though, there are waves of other influences lapping at the shores of your senses. Leather, then light char, a touch of the lemon twist that is the core of Ardbeg’s unpeated spirit, with a shimmer of olives, hay, and oak. This nose just dances! There’s some brine and sweetness on the palate that eventually folds into a finish of pepper and fruit with a transition brought to you by a vegetal peat. There is char here throughout the experience, to be sure, but this scotch is more balanced and complex than the one-note ashpit I was expecting, by a long shot. This isn’t an Ardbeg that I’m going to love for simply being liquid joy, yet I can still appreciate and enjoy it for bringing me on a complex, layered journey few Islays – and few Ardbegs – are able to offer.
Kate – VERY peaty and medicinal on the nose, initially. I could instantly tell this MUST be an Islay. After it sits for awhile, it becomes quite sweet on the nose. Moderately hot too. Brine becomes more present, as well. Golden raisins, apple blossoms. Quite bitter when you first take a sip. Oak, char, hay, iodine, green olives (?), wet sweet grass, green peppercorn. The finish is long but moderate, not super intense. It leaves you with a chewy finish. There’s smoky cherrywood, brine, rum raisin, and lots of iodine. I think this is a cop out for Ardbeg – whom I love and therefore have high expectations. I expect more nuance from special release Ardbegs and I think this one relies too much on the char, which fades quickly. The char was a flash in the pan. We are so used to Ardbeg knocking it out of the park that I wish I loved this more. Don’t get me wrong, I still LOVE Ardbeg but it is not their strongest offering when stacked up with their other limited releases.
Bill – I love it, honestly. Is it everything? No, it’s not. I want more, I want to be punched in the mouth with peat and smoke. But at the same time, what it does give, I really like it an awful lot.
There are waves of influences lapping at the shores of your senses.
Henry – This is probably the best Ardbeg for summer which I’ve ever tasted, with the exception of the lightly peated Blasda. Honey, lemon, and iodine predominate on a friendly nose that’s neither overbearing nor gentle. I’m NOT a fan of overly charred whiskies, so I was more than pleasantly surprised that a whisky calling itself ‘Scorch’ held the char in check. Iodine and vegetal notes on the midpalate with a pique of black pepper. Char is present on the finish, but again balanced and not overbearing. Reminds me of an older cousin of the Wee Beastie.
Ben – Once again, Ardbeg is a winner. Of all the Ardbeg’s I’ve had, this feels like the sweetest even though there’s a heat.
Mike – For a name like Scorch, I was expecting so much peat or smoke but it isn’t there. I wouldn’t sip this constantly but it’s really well balanced. A nice combination of campfire smoke and then the grassiness on the palate. I like it.
