Håvard Eide

Last week the time came for a Ardbeg Supernova tasting at Jekylls in Oslo, hosted by Chris Maile. The basement of Jekylls filled pretty much up and we were presented with a introduction by Chris about the Ardbeg distillery.

Then there was the tasting, first we tasted the new Renaissance before we digged into the Supernova.

Renaissance

Nose: citrus, pineapple and a nutty backdrop.
Taste: peat and salt, classic Ardbeg taste on this one. With a bit of water: more distinct smoke and tar. The smoke really fills the mouth! Then the citrus comes back. This develops really nice with a tiny drop of water.
The interesting thing with the Renaissance was after it had aired a bit: a very sweet cotton candy on the nose, very sweet! I’ve never seen this in a Ardbeg before!

Supernova

This was what we came for: Ardbeg Supernova 2001, aged on first fill burboun and sherry casks.
Nose: the citrus is there, and some iodine. Some dried fruits and the smoke is absolutely on track here!
Taste: The initial hit comes with coffee and very dry cocoapowder on the tounge. The cask strength is absolute noticable but not to a degree where it’s not drinkable. It then develops with the smoke, tar and peat that hits hard, but not as hard as “the peaties Ardbeg ever” would lead you to think. With a tiny splash of water it develops a very dry smoke on the toung, very dry, I can only describe it as a dry pile of ash. Finally the finish: long, very long! It just wouldn’t go away ( in a good manner ), so a interesting experience with this new bottle!

Supernova is released the 2nd of may here in Norway at 829NOK and I do think I’ll pick up a bottle, but you should at least have a little taste of this bottle if you get the chance ( at least if you like peaty whisky ). Supernova is still young ( only 8 years ) and I can imagine that it will be a good one after a few more years in a cask to smoothen out a bit. For now I prefer the Renaissance over the Supernova of the new cask strengths that Ardbeg has released the last year.

After the tasting I got on my bicycle and road back home, that was a experience in itself: the dry ash and smoke dried out my mouth all the way home and I had to cool down with a Ardbeg 10yo before going to bed that night.

A couple of weeks ago I sat down on a nmwl with 5 10yo whiskies in front of me to taste blind. This is always a good exercise since you don’t pre-judge based on the label of the bottle, everyone should try this from time to time just to see what happens. We got a list of 15 distilleries up front so that we had something to base our decision on. Here are my notes for the evening.

First up was Aberlour: sherry cask here? some vanilla and perfume, lots of perfume. some sulphur and the balance is not very good. Not a bottle I would buy. But: my initial thought that it had to be a Aberlour was correct
The second bottle smelled like green grass, had some pear and apple ( mainly fruity ) and a dry finish. It was a Glengoyne, and I did not guess correct.
The third bottle smelled like green apples and had a intense initial hit, then a salty taste that lingered, must be a burboun cask. This was Longrow 100 proof and I did not guess correct.
Fourth up was a odd one: smelled like a old wet fireplace, peaty and lots of wood. This was a Chieftain’s Choise Bunnahabain peated, I was correct and I bought myself a bottle of this the day after.
Finally Ardbeg was servered, this one I had correct ( Ardbeg is on my top 3 distilleries, wasn’t that hard to guess it ).

So: 3 out of 5 wasn’t that bad I think The suprise of the evening was the Bunnahabain peated that got a safe home the next day. Looking forward to opening that one!

I also got to taste a Glen Scotia 1999-2007 bottle 294/345, nose: dry hay, a liqurish hint and some spices. Mouth: bitter and dry liqurish with a hard liquor taste on it. It had a very short finish, this one should have a couple more years before shining through.
Then I tasted a Teaninich 12yo ( Exclusive malts ) that was a bit anonymous, and finally a Caol Ila Dun Behgan 12yo that was very good! I wish there was bottles of this one still available in Norway, I would get it instantly!

I have always been a great fan of Ardbeg: the peat, salt and spice always have me wanting more. Until now I’ve enjoyed Nam Beist the most, but I’ve always been looking at a bottle of Ardbeg 1974 at the pub, meaning to sample it one of these days ( the pricetag alone have been the part that have stopped me ). In 2007 I went to a tasting with Jim Murray at the norwegian whisky festival where he described the 1974 Ardbeg as the ultimate in whisky, followed up by tasting 7 different Ardbegs with a representative of the Ardbeg distillery. But sadly the 1974 never came up that evening.
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nmwl is the Norwegian Malt Whisky Society, and once a month we meet up 30-40 people or so and taste our way through a lot of good whisky. The first meeting of 2009 took place on wednesday in the new meeting place in Oslo, and the topic of the night was “Old whisky”. Last year my attendance at the meetings was poor at best, they always seemed to be on the nights where I either had to work or something else came up. This year though I’m planning to attend more since the range of whisky you can taste is very good!
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The people that know me have over the years *slowly* figured out that I’m a big whisky fan: I’m a member of the norwegian malt whisky association, me and some friends come together to taste whiskies and enjoy the flavors that it brings. If I have to choose I’d go for some Islay whisky, but tasting is fun, so every now and then I’ll gather up some notes when I taste something new or have had a tasting night with the nmwl or my friends.
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