The first part of a rather interesting trio. Edition A is drawn from a 2015 refill barrel of heavily peated spirit and bottled at 57.1%.
Nose: Burnt bacon, porridge, wet dog and damp hay sit with boiled vegetables, raw moist peat and marmite spread over toast. Olive brine provides salinity and reinforces what is a rather savoury affair. The addition of water offers ozone and petrichor alongside putty and apple slices. Overall, it’s less burnt and more obviously approachable.
Taste: Pretty bombastic. Medicinal peat smoke with floor cleaner and antiseptic joins lemon zest, rocky cliffs, brine and chimney smoke. Light chilli pepper provide a bite whilst toasted barley tempers. Water moves things into a more fruit focussed place with apples (primarily) and pears together with mandarin peels, coal dust and cold cream.
Finish: Quite long with sustained peat smoke, sharp medicinalness and a citric twist.
Character and power abound with this full-throttle Sponge Ardnamuchan. There’s so much intensity here that any sense of youthfulness is clobbered into submission. And that’s surprising as this has already been reduced down once – god only knows how aggressive it was at natural cask strength. Still, even more water will tame it into a far more approachable proposition. I rather like both aspects depending on my prevailing mood.