Ardbeg Dark Cove Single Malt Scotch Whisky
It’s new and the launch date is on Ardbeg Day (28th May 2016) It said to be a night time dram in the company of smugglers.
Nicola and I have been long time lovers of all things Ardbeg and we were overjoyed when a wee sample popped through the door of Whisky Boys HQ.
While Nicola was over on Islay for a few days a week or so ago she managed to pick up a bottle of the Special Committee Only Edition which now sits proudly in The Whisky Boys cabinet.
Michael (Mickey) Heads, Ardbeg distillery manager, says:
“Distilling and smuggling whisky was once rife on Islay, and before the Ardbeg Distillery was founded, the coastline roundabout was particularly notorious as a hideout for smugglers. In true smugglers’ style we will be keeping the finer details of this year’s Ardbeg Day celebrations under wraps a little longer, but rest assured they will be as intriguing as Ardbeg’s clandestine past. We will also have a special bottling, called Ardbeg Dark Cove – which pays homage to the shadowy past of Ardbeg’s coastline.”
The Committee release has a white label and with a red seal and is bottled at 55.0% alc/vol. Whilst the standard bottling has a black label and is bottled at 46.5% alc/vol
The Dark Cove has been matured in sherry casks and then married with ex-bourbon casks.
Lets have a wee taste now of the non Committee Dark Cove.
Ardbeg Dark Cove – Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, NAS, 46.5% alc/vol 70cl
Colour: Doubloon gold.
Nose: Air blowing from a dunnage warehouse, sausages wrapped in Parma ham, dark chocolate, stem ginger dipped in fresh orange juice,coming in a shade late is some sweet peat smoke, oak sawdust and a little rubber.
Taste: Quite warming, more stem ginger, crushed coffee beans, sitting round a camp fire with some smugglers and Long John Silvers wooden leg is beginning to char ever so slightly, there is also a toffee/caramel sweetness loads of peat, somewhere in the glass is a light floral/perfume note, this one is complex so much happening in my glass.
Finish: Long, peaty, smoky, sweet with a hint of a road workers tarry leather boots. all in all it is a grand sweet and peaty dram.
Another triumph from all at Ardbeg, you guys have done it again, an outstanding Whisky that is proud to bear the name Ardbeg.
Both Nicola and I are very disappointed that we will not be making it over to Islay for the festival, but we shall be over soon and as always Ardbeg is high on our list for a dram and lunch and a chat with the staff.
