Ardbeg: Bizarrebq (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 50.9% ABV)
Visual: Dark bronzed gold spirit with fast thick streaks that come from it.
Nose: Smoked beef to beef brisket. Thai seven spice. Hickory smoke barbecue sauce. Peat. Salt. Moss. Oily. Charred wood. Brown sugar. Water adds more salt and makes more medicinal.
Body: Oily. Dry touch. Dry beef. Charred meat bits. Dry smoke. Chines stir fry veg. Slight black cherry. Salt. Water makes drier and more medicinal.
Finish: Smoke. Salt. Medicinal touch. Charred meat bits. Water make spicier and with dry smoke.
Conclusion: This is another one of those drams that has changed a lot since I first opened the bottle.
When I first had it, it didn’t seem that much different from a normal good quality Ardbeg – maybe a bit oilier and a bit meatier, but generally just what I would expect from a good quality Ardbeg – which is nothing to turn your nose up at; Ardbeg is amazing. Just, the odd cask aging didn’t seem to be doing much.
Now I return to it and this is still very recognisably Ardbeg, with big peat smoke and some salt and medicinal notes, though as always not as medicinal as some other distilleries on Islay. It seems drier than when I first encountered it, despite still having those oily notes, but the main thing is it now seems a lot spicier. The barbecue influence shows in that spiciness it seems along with lots of smoke, dried meat and charred meat bits, and that oiliness gives a barbecue meat glaze style.
It is one of the rare exceptions for me where a being spicy whisky doesn’t work against it – it feels like Ardbeg is big enough to work against it, so the spice never feels like an overly dominating note.
This is the meatier, spicier Ardbeg and that really works. Just give it some time to air and open up to show it at its best.
Background: As a fan of Ardbeg and oddities this one caught my eye at independent spirit. So, this is a collaboration with Dr Bill Lumsden and DJ BBQ (aka Christian Stevenson) – I have to admit I have no idea who they are and just copied their names from the description. The oddity comes in the cask choice, double charred oak case, fair enough – toasted Pedro Ximénez sherry casks – nice, and then what they call barbecue casks, which are described as heavily charred casks, custom made using an old-fashioned brazier – I have no idea if they have ever been near a barbecue or if that is just a fancy name. Music wise I went big with this, going for Svalbards new album – The Weight Of The Mask.