Ardbeg 19 (New 2019 Release) Review

Hi everyone,

More from the new releases tasted at the Whisky Exchange Show. Next up: Ardbeg.

The problem I have with Ardbeg releasing new whisky is that the quality and value of the 10, Oog and Corry are so so good that anything else has trouble competing. So when Ardbeg annouced that they would be bringing out a 19yo age statement whisky as a permanent part of their range, I was sceptical as to the quality of such a whisky but more the value because, of course, its going to be a lot more money than the others.

Anyway, for science, I decided to try it.

Ardbeg 19 (2019) 46.2%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Classic Ardbeg but elevated and ethereal, oily lime juice, tame smoke, ash. Kinda creamy but that's about it.

Taste: Dry arrival, biscuit, very soft, oily, lime juice, some oak comes in, light spices, creamy, a bit flat in places.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Creamy and oily, but not a lot of smoke here at all.

Restrained Ardbeg, more about mouthfeel than actual flavour but loses points for complexity. Not recommended at the price, I'd rather have the 10yo.

This ain’t bad whisky but I rate it the same as an Oa, and this will be triple the price I believe.

74/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #790

Whisky Network Review #942

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ledaig 12 Present Future & 19 PX Finish Reviews

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of activity on my front, just being lazy I’m afraid. But today we are back with two awesome Ledaig’s. Yes, more Ledaig. I’ve got loads and I’m always trying more!

Both of these have used Sherry in the maturation, which we know works well with Ledaig but we have an indie and official. Let’s see how they compare…

Ledaig 12 Present Future The Whisky Exchange Show 58.4%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: WAHH! That's what we love! Big dirty Ledaig. Red fruit and red meat, black pepper, beautifully balanced nose, complex and sexy. Fresh cherry and black cherry lifting the whole.

Taste: Full but with a soft arrival, red fruit, big spice, dirty, malt and black pepper, ash and soot, complex, cherry coming in. Oily for days.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Black pepper, red meat, really oily. Like REALLY! AMAZING.

Nose is the star here but its all great of course. For TWE Show's 10th anniversary. I think this is Signatory stock that whisky exchange have bought. I bought a bottle of this, which doesn’t happen often these days. Also… HOLOGRAM LABEL!

86/100

 

Ledaig 19 PX Finish 55.7%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Meaty, creamy, cherry, pomegranate, fragrant orange peel. Raw steak and green peppercorns. Not as complex as the full sherry matured stuff.

Taste: Dry start, mineral, pomegranate, Mezcal into the finish. Not nearly as sweet as I had expected.

Finish: Long length. More spices here, ginger, black pepper.

On the expensive side for Ledaig at £150. A little dry for my tastes although specs looked like exactly the whisky I love.

84/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated distillery rankings

Scotch Reviews #777-#778

Whisky Network Reviews #922-#923

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Jura 19 The Paps & 1988 Rare Vintage Reviews

Hi everyone,

Back and in the airport again (cancelled flights rebooked) and back with two more Jura today. Both of these are pretty new but if you know me then you know I’m not a particularly big fan of this distillery. I tend to enjoy whiskies that are clean and crisp, complex whiskies, balanced and powerful whiskies.

Jura I find a bit flabby. Usually with these sour and doughy notes that don’t jive for me.

But these two are older. These two are at a sensible strength. And they are both using a sweet finishing cask…

Jura The Paps 19yo 45.6%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Cinnamon, gingerbread, ginger cake, rich, heavy, cakey, vanilla, orange, very nice nose. Heathery.

Taste: Heavy, rich, Sherry, sweet, cherry, vanilla, building spice and oak, ginger, nice mouthfeel, cinnamon. Not quite in balance.

Finish: Medium length. Cloying, sweet orange, more ginger and heather.

Travel retail exclusive. Finished in 40yo px casks (although the BOX says 30yo px) and interesting for it. The sweet notes aren’t crazy sweet but are quite cloying towards the end. The spices here help it balance out and bring something interesting.

75/100

Jura 1988 2018 Release 53.5%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Pastry and oak. Light sweetness from the Port, complex spices, cinnamon and nutmeg, ginger, not particularly balanced but classic Jura.

Taste: Full on, complex spices, ginger and nutmeg, spiced hot chocolate, cinnamon and clove, quite oaky, heather, better towards the finish.

Finish: Long length. The Port comes through more with some blackberry.

1 year finishing in Grahams Port barrels. Not my thing but fans of Jura with love this. Impressive packaging too although the price is probably crazy. I prefer this to the Paps but not by a lot and the Paps will be a lot cheaper.

77/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #685-#686

Whisky Network Reviews #819-#820

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Imperial 1995 The Ultimate, Review

Hi everyone,

Another whisky review coming at you today. It’s from a closed distillery but one of those ones that’s closed relatively recently and so is still relatively available.

If you hadn’t heard of Imperial Distillery, I wouldn’t blame you. It was defunct for a number of years, only really producing between 1991 and 1998. It was never really available on its own and is only available through the independent bottlers. It was demolished in 2013 and a new distillery was built on the site, Dalmunach.

This is a sample I picked up from FineDrams a while back and is bottled by The Ultimate Whisky Co., who I haven’t seen in the UK but are mostly in Belgium and Holland I think.

Imperial 1995 The Ultimate 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Noses older than 19 years. Dusty fruit, mothballs, dunnage, beeswax polish, old dry wood. Some fresher fruit starting to appear, red apple, soft raisin, some spices too, fresh cut ginger, clove. Liquorice and old homemade limoncello come out after a bit.

Taste: Soft arrival with red apple and fruit, quickly becomes dry with lots of oak and spices, some dunnage, Hessian, then the fruit comes back a bit with dried orange peel but doesn't overcome the spiciness. After some time its softer, lemoncello, very dry old oak, tannins, bitter lemon pith.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Intense spiciness with dry old oak and some old dusty lemon peel.

Bottled at 19yo. Really interesting stuff. Reminds me of Bladnoch or Glen Elgin with the dunnage style. It felt a bit overaged with any water, but neat it was a good example of a more ‘traditional’ tasting whisky.

77/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #433

Whisky Network Review #493

Network Average: 74.3

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ben Nevis 19yo That Boutique-y Whisky Co Review

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt

A series of short reviews from the Bristol Whisky Lounge 2016. Part 6/20

This is was only just released when I tasted it in May.

Ben Nevis 19 TBWC 49.5%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Fresh fruit, mango, some wild strawberry.

Taste: Fresh, malty, spice, good balance. Then the oak builds and gets quite intense.

Finish: Long length. Strawberry but lots of intense oak.

Notes: I love sherried Ben Nevis but this is a little on the oaky side. Maybe it was a European oak cask?

74/100

Review #106