Ardbeg Hypernova Whisky Review!

Take the idea behind Ardbeg Supernova, add some extra peat and an extra dash of hype, and you get Ardbeg Hypernova!

Just when we thought Ardbeg's Supernova had conceded the phenolic ppm cold war to Bruichladdich's Octomore, the south coast Islay giant has launched a late counterattack with a 170+ ppm single malt, aptly dubbed Hypernova due to the amount of internet hype that its announcement generated. No, not really! A hypernova is an astronomy term for a particularly large & energetic star explosion, a.k.a. supernova, which if you'll recall was the name for Ardbeg's sporadic releases of super-heavily peated whiskies that debuted in 2009. The 2009 and 2010 releases were distilled from barley peated to "over 100 ppm", and both but particularly the 2009 were excellent whiskies. The next Supernova was released in 2014, and another in 2015, then most recently in 2019. Crucially, those three latter releases were a mix of the "over 100 ppm" spirit and casks of regular 55 ppm Ardbeg spirit that were "found to be particularly peaty". While that fact alone does not make them inferior to their predecessors, in my opinion the quality of those three releases was not on par with the first two Supernovae, they were much more tame and less complex, and you could certainly argue that they were less authentic compared to the original two. Thankfully, that doesn't appear to be the case with Hypernova, as far as I can tell it's wholly distilled from barley that was peated to over 170 ppm phenols. Supposedly those last three Supernovae also had some older casks thrown in and also had a slightly higher proportion of sherry casks in the vattings, although you'd be hard-pressed to find evidence of either point on the nose or palate. The ABV was also getting consistently lower with each release, following a similar pattern to the Ardbeg Day bottlings. To strengthen that authenticity argument, Ardbeg's marketing department kept that 55/100 ppm fact very quiet, deciding instead to sprout some bullshit about a space experiment which had nothing whatsoever to do with the whisky. Yep, that sounds just like Ardbeg's marketing department to me! Punks, pirates, hippies, dragons, cryptocurrency, and now comic books & meat pies. I love you Ardbeg, but where will it end!?! 

That said, Ardbeg's usually ridiculous level of marketing has been toned down for Hypernova, they've only given the ppm figure and tasting notes, there's no highly imaginative story this time, the "artistic license" has been restrained. But while I'm being cynical about marketing, let's talk about the whole ppm thing. Firstly, those three letters mean "parts per million", a measurement which can apply to just about anything but is mainly used in chemistry. When a whisky distiller or brand talks about ppm, they're generally talking about the level of phenolic compounds or phenols that were measured in their malted barley. Not the new make spirit and certainly not the mature whisky, but the freshly-malted barley itself; the grain, the base ingredient. Most smoke and/or peat aromas & flavours are members of the phenolic family, but there are many, many others, all included in your shiny little ppm figure. More importantly, since that measurement is taken from the malted barley itself, said barley then goes through milling, mashing, fermentation, distillation, and maturation, before coming out the other end as whisky. The general rule of thumb that most peated whisky distillers agree on is that up to 60% of phenolic content will be lost during the production stages prior to maturation. Obviously that loss varies massively depending on your grist settings, fermentation times, distillation speeds, the size, shape and design of your stills, your spirit cut points, the type of cask/s you're using, how long you're ageing for, and the type- and location of your warehouse/s, among many other factors. It's important to remember that despite Ardbeg being an overtly peaty whisky, it's actually relatively light compared to some others, despite using a higher ppm barley than most. That's down to a couple of factors that we can point to; chiefly the relatively long fermentation times used and the design of their stills, including the purifiers on the spirit stills (more information on both points here). But there are also many other factors that we can't point to; the alchemistic, mysterious, unquantifiable & unpredictable ones that make whisky so fascinating. So yes, this is going to be a peaty whisky, that's really all these phenolic ppm figures tell you. But I'll tell you right now, it's not going to taste three-times as peaty as Ardbeg 10, or five-times as peaty as Lagavulin 12. Even if it was, our senses wouldn't be able to detect it. Sure, ppm figures are a nice thing to know, but they're now more of a marketing weapon than anything else. 

Which brings me to the most obvious comparison that most people will make here, Bruichladdich's Octomore. Sure, both Octomore and Hypernova are super-heavily peated Islay single malts, but there's much more to the story. Bruichladdich have turned ppm figures into marketing gold over the years, but if anyone has compared a 5-year old _.1 Octomore, particularly one from the 9-series onwards, with a Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength or a Lagavulin 12, you'll already know that those ppm figures are of no help whatsoever when it comes to inter-distillery comparisons. Keeping it brief, Octomore barley is smoked with mainland peat in Inverness (yes, even the Islay Barley variants), which instantly rules out any direct comparison with the likes of Lagavulin or Laphroaig which use Islay peat. Then you need to consider Bruichladdich's long fermentation times, their tall stills with narrow necks, and their high & narrow cut points. Then you need to consider the casks used, which in the _.1 Octomores are all first-fill bourbon barrels, which have plenty of input over the short maturation periods. Sadly & predictably we have no age information or cask information on Ardbeg Hypernova, but it's obviously going to be young for maximum peatiness, and there will have been some/mostly/entirely refill casks in the vatting for the same reason. Or at least partly for the same reason. What we do know, and what I had guessed from the start, is that like Octomore the barley used for Hypernova was peated on the mainland. As far as peat levels that basically rules out direct comparisons with the Ardbeg core range, which uses peated malt sourced from Port Ellen Maltings, who use Islay peat to smoke their malted barley. Quick digression, that situation could change soon given the restrictions that owners Diageo recently put on Port Ellen Maltings' supply to external customers, which is likely to impact all non-Diageo Islay distilleries aside from Bruichladdich, plus more distilleries further afield. But that's a scary thought for another day!

One more slight point of cynicism before we get into the review - pricing. Given Ardbeg's roller coaster (pun intended) of a limited release track record over the last five years or so, and despite being a self-confessed peat-head and Ardbeg fan, I was dubious about Hypernova from the word go. To the point where I purposely didn't buy one, something that would've been unthinkable a few years ago. And I'm sure many other Ardbeg fans are in the same boat. While price wasn't the only factor in that decision, it was the final decider. Here in Australia the asking price on launch, untested and with nothing but the official tasting notes and ppm figure to go on, was $370 AUD. It could've been even higher of course, Octomore _.2 and _.3 releases are now hitting over the $300 mark on these shores - and let's not forget that most of those are 5-year old whiskies. I'm probably being naïve now, but I can't ignore the fact that those same dollars spent on one Hypernova could buy three - yes, three - bottles of the delicious Ardbeg 8-year old 'For Discussion' which is still readily available, is probably a similar age to (or older than) Hypernova, and is bottled at almost exactly the same strength. My Hypernova decision could've been reversed if there had been some external reviews available prior to release, and/or more transparency from the distillery on casks & ages. But that's not realistically how special releases from Ardbeg or other popular distilleries work these days. If you don't buy a bottle on release, or prior to release in many cases, then you miss out. So there's no need for a brand to put in extra effort in order to sell their new product. Some might say that this situation gives the brands some extra wiggle room when it comes to quality...

So, no cask information, no age information, not cask strength, but a decent ABV at 51.0%. It'll be young, of course, to retain maximum peatiness. Malted barley peated to 170+ ppm phenols, non-chill filtered and natural colour, an unknown number of bottles, and a hefty but not stratospheric price. The sample for this review came my way in a sample swap from a generous fellow whisky lover, there was no PR firm involved. Let's find out if I'll regret my decision...

Ardbeg Hypernova, NAS, 51.0%. Islay, Scotland.

Peated to 170+ ppm phenols on the malted barley. No age or cask information available, but presumed refill bourbon barrels and sub-10-years. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Very pale gold. 

Nose: Definitely very young & completely new make driven. Definitely peaty as well, but more measured than you might expect. New plastic, warm tar, and big chunky, earthy peat. Touches of brine, dried lemon, and seaweed. Hot bitumen, clean rubber, and dried green chilli flakes. Really quite industrial. Flashes of burnt bacon, green pears, and damp sand in behind.  

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Young, industrial, peaty, mildly briny. Slight touch of heat but well integrated. 

Taste: Big sweet & malty spirit, touch of pear again, with those plastic & tar/bitumen notes as well. The big chunky, earthy peat slowly surges in, plus some burnt bacon, aniseed & sweet lemon. Make that lemon balm actually (slightly waxy). Brine around the edges. 

Finish: Medium-long length. More plasticky & tarry/bitumen notes, more aniseed & lemon balm. Spent ink cartridges. Burnt bacon & dried green chilli flakes again. Touch of white pepper. Gristy, malty spirit and warm ashy smoke to finish. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. Not miles away from a 4, though. 

 

Notes: A very youthful new make spirit Ardbeg here. There are flashes of both 'Still Young' (yay!) and 'Wee Beastie' (boo!) to it, but thankfully it's far more mature than the 5-year old beastie. This is still an immature whisky though, make no mistake. Maybe "more integrated" is a better way of putting it than "more mature". Both Hypernova and Wee Beastie have plenty of plastic notes & pear notes to them, but the Hypernova is a far better whisky in my opinion with much more to offer (ignoring the massive price difference). 

As expected, Hypernova is not as insanely peaty & smoky as the marketing team would lead you to believe, while the peat is impossible to miss it actually builds over time and doesn't overshadow everything else. There's also a nice gristy maltiness to the spirit, which is why it reminds me slightly of 'Still Young', but with the industrial & plasticky notes added to this one. Frankly, I'm enjoying this new Hypernova more than I thought I would. Some have made comparisons with mezcal, and I definitely agree. That does happen with some young Islays, and it's a fairly divisive style that might require patience. But I'm a fan, as are many others. 

While I don't quite regret skipping this purchase, and it's absolutely too expensive, I'm glad to have tried it and I'd definitely do so again. Which is not something you'll hear me say about Wee Beastie, Ardcore, Fermutation, or some of the other recent releases. 

For those who skipped all of the above writing and only came for the score, you probably want two questions answered before you close your browser. Fine, here you go: Is it peatier than Octomore? Yes, but only some Octomores, and in a different way. Is it better than Octomore? No, because there's no direct comparison between the two. See above if you want to know more!

Cheers!