Review #44: Ardbeg 'Corryvreckan', 57.1%, L11 157 11:31 6ML

it's cold outside!

for some reason, peat seems especially suited for this awful weather. it's not just an affinity of peat smoke and warm feelings, either. I had some Corryvreckan this summer and it was just flat: it tasted like sweet cream butter on burnt toast, with a maybe a little anchovy. now that the ambient temperature has collapsed, it's regained its form.

Corryvreckan is their best bottling right now. I guess its gimmick is: no age statement but 10yrs old, lots of new French oak, and high proof but consistently at 57.1%. It has, I think, the richest, tarriest peat -- it doesn't have Laphroaig's iodine or Bowmore's fruity/smokiness, but it's powerful stuff and it interacts in an interesting way with the sweet oak. (The sweetness in itself is a little odd, but seems to be engaged in combat with the peat.) Anyway, notes ...

Nose: tarry rope, camphor, herring, and laver. Dark sooty smoke. Some astringent notes and dried flowers. Wet clay, oyster liquor cotton candy, black pepper, bread baked with molasses. Develops well and very expressive for such a high proof.

Palate: toasty, briny, peppery, phenolic, sweet. seaweed candy, if there were such a thing. a smoldering wool sweater doused in seawater, but curiously rounded.

Finish: extremely long. Creamy vanilla ashy candy.

I sometimes forget how much I like this one, but then I drink some more.

score: 89