Ardbeg Blasda is a… unique dram. A limited release of about 18,000 bottles that first appeared in 2008 and was made available till 2010. This is a No Age Statement (NAS) lightly peated take on Ardbeg that, for me has very little resemblance to any other Ardbeg I’ve ever had. According to the bottle the name Blasda means “sweet and delicious”. They definitely nailed the sweet part… I’m not so sure on the delicious.
Looking around the web, Blasda seems to be one of those divisive whiskies with people either loving it or hating it. I have some friends who absolutely love it, though most of them then qualify their love with “but I don’t really think of it as Ardbeg”. So what causes folks to love, hate or qualify their love of this whisky?
I think part of it is because it tastes young and sweet so it has some of that almost cloying character that Scottish new make has. Then there’s the fact that the malt used for it clocked in at a mere 8 PPM compared to the usual 55 PPM which does very little to hide flaws or enhance character and sits in the whisky like an afterthought. As you can tell I’m not the “not a fan” side of this discussion.
Ardbeg Blasda Review
Distiller: Ardbeg
Age: NAS
ABV: 40%
Bottling: L9 084 18:00 6ML
Price: $300+ (auction / online specialty shops)
Non-Chill Filtered
Natural Color
EYE
Light yellow (closer to clear than yellow)
NOSE
Fruit, red licorice, sugary maltiness, lemon oil and an odd lemongrass-like essence and spice with a light dusting of peat and mild spirity character. It’s really light and I’m not find much interesting about it.
PALATE
Second verse same as the first (almost). The fruit comes across less ambiguous and more orchard like and is accompanied with notes of malty sweetness, vanilla, lemon oil, and that odd lemongrass-like essence and spice with a light sprinkling of peat and spirity character. Like the nose I’m not finding much to get excited about.
FINISH
Medium fade of fruit, caramel, vanilla, that odd spice and peat.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Let’s put it this way, it’s not unbalanced. Medium body and a weak watery texture.
OVERALL
Ardbeg Blasda? More like blah-sda. I kid I kid… kinda. In all seriousness the Blasda is my least favorite of the Ardbeg releases I’ve had and that includes all of the releases I haven’t even post about yet for Ardbeg April. It’s really neat to try a lightly peated young Ardbeg, and I’m incredibly glad I did, but it’s just not my cup of tea. Feels wishy washy and lacks complexity and that strong Ardbeg character that I love and look for and It ends up coming off more like a craft Scotch experiment than a calculated Ardbeg release.
SCORE: 78/100
