NV Ardbeg - Supernova Stellar Release (58.9%)
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Tasting notes
Nose: Moody, atmospheric; hints and threats; Lynchian in its stark black and white forms, its meandering plot, its dark and at times indecipherable message and meaning. Taste: At first a wall of friendly phenols but only when you stand back and see the overall picture you can get an idea just how mammoth that wall is; there are intense sugary gristy notes, then this cuts away slightly towards something more mouth-fillingly smoky but now with a hickory sweetness; a light oil captures the long, rhythmic waves, a pulse almost. Finish: Gentle, sweetening cocoa notes evolve while the peat pulses... again... and again... Balance: Apparently this was called "Supernova" in tribute of how I once described a very highly peated Ardbeg. This major beast, carrying a phenol level in excess of 100ppm, isn't quite a Supernova... much more of a Black Hole. Because once you get dragged into this one, there really is no escaping.
Critic scores
Jim Murray, Whisky Bible
About the producer
Ardbeg is one of the most recognisable peated whiskies today. The distillery was instrumental in kickstarting the Islay revival when it reopened in the late 1990s.