Ardbeg Dark Cove
"The Darkest Ardbeg ever", Really?
WHISKY TASTING
Color: Deep Copper
Price: $$-$$$
Nose: A little Sweet to begin with, Heavy & Viscous, Dark chocolates, Raisins, Sultanas, Damp embers, light Ash, Christmas cake on the backend, some lemon or citrus at the very end with some brine. Smells delicious, Yum!!
Palate: Some Brine, Rich fruits, oily, astringent, some spice, citrus, pepper, ginger, lovely peat on the palate, some more of those earthy notes and a tinge minty.
Finish: Long and ends in a nice spice. Develops very nicely in the glass. The more time the liquid gold sits in the glass, the more the spirit feels, it evolves a lot in the glass.
Final Thoughts:
Very Nice, Some complex layers forming with time. The first whiff on the nose, smelled like an Lagavulin to me, but behind that the Ardbeg quickly emerged. Even though this is not the committee release bottle (released at 49.9% ABV) still appreciate the 46.5%ABV on this edition. It feels a bit astringent at times. With water some of those dark sherry notes comes through, feels like some of the Oloroso sherry casks in here. This is one of my favorite historical Ardbeg’s for me, i loved it and bought some replacements back in the day (2016), when i still could. If you ever see a bottle in the wild at a reasonable price, don’t hesitate to pick one up and give it a lot of time in the bottle and the glass to evolve and show you its magic.
Score: 88/100
ARDBEG DARKCOVE
46.5% ABV || NAS
Casks: Mix of Ex-Bourbon Casks & Dark Sherry Casks
Color: Most likely Natural Color
Filtration: Non-Chill Filtered
