Ardbeg 10
Whoa, nelly. You want Islay? We got Islay.
Campfire at the shore nose. Not off in the distance. Your same tshirt worn over 3 consecutive long nights tending the driftwood coals. There's too much going on here flavorwise for me to interpret but after a second of sweet scotchy introduction, which I'll have to pin down later, arrives a roaring wildfire of smoke, burnt orange, and pepper. This lasts and lasts, and lasts, finally mellowing to what I'll cluelessly call jalepeno vanilla. I salivated lots.
Disclaimer: Not a Scotch connoisseur, just a dude exploring what he likes. I drink neat, as the distiller presents it. No water, no ice. Guess I'd call the Ardbeg "deep and long." It asked me to interpret what it had to offer, and I'm going to need a lot more time. This is not a boring, one dimensional scotch. Duratuon went on and on. The smoke will climb up your nose for you. How'd that get in there?
If you're not a smokey peat guy, be advised this is the deep end of the pool. I am a smokey peat guy and still thought the first glass had a little burnt rubber happening. The second, a short pour, converted me to a fan. But don't start here if you're uninitiated with Islay stuff, imho. It's by far the strongest of that kind I've had and is liable to scare people off gentler island 'stills. I liked it but it's really fuckin forward. Puffers will need their meatiest Vuelta Abajo to keep up with this Full Metal Islay.
