Ardbeg

Overall a good dram but for me the port cask influence is mild and a bit disappointing. Further research reveals Quinta Ruban casks were used for maturation...so obviously these are not first fill port barrels (possibly not even second fill), which for me is a bit of an issue as the "juicy" character I would expect from port cask maturation is somewhat lacking. The dram has the typical Ardbeg dryness in the finish, which remains consistent throughout and does not evolve as much as I would like.

However, some really good strawberry sugar sweetness on the palatte which is quite lovely. Decent mouthfeel, nice smokey finish. But another issue is that this is overpriced for a 46% ABV NAS whisky - it really needs a bump in ABV (at least 50%) to become more interesting so you can really play around with water. Due to the lower ABV it lacks some intensity and power. So overall a project that could have been truly spectacular in my opinion if they used first fill port casks, bumped the ABV to at least 50% and kept it to around £70 per bottle, just like Ardnahoe's Inaugural release that has just come out. A decent dram overall but could have been so much more, and in my opinion represents a missed opportunity.