Finally getting around to reviewing Ardbeg's lower-priced limited release from mid-2023! Funnily enough - like most of their special releases from 2023 - it's still readily available at RRP over six months later. Times have clearly changed for Islay's loudest distillery...
I'm roughly six-months behind the curve with this review. Ardbeg BizarreBQ has already received positive feedback from many, but then fell off the radar very quickly. Having already tried it a couple of times thanks to friends, and since it's still widely available at the original RRP - here in Australia, at least - I think it deserves more attention. So here we are! This isn't an Ardbeg Day / Feis Ile (Islay Festival) release, but it's not a core range bottling either, it's just a limited release. Ardbeg have really ramped up the special and/or limited releases in the last few years, with the words "special" and "limited" no longer holding the water that they once did. BizarreBQ is a limited release, but we don't know how many bottles there are in that release, and even now it doesn't seem to be particularly scarce, six months down the track. But that certainly doesn't mean it's not a good whisky. With global economic changes and the post-pandemic shift in drinking habits, the vast majority of limited release & mid-range Scotch whisky isn't flying off the shelf like it once did. I've singled out Scotch there, but that also applies to Australian whisky. In fact it applies to almost everything that is not Japanese whisky! Thanks to many naïve consumers that umbrella term still covers the stuff that isn't really Japanese and also the stuff that isn't really whisky, but it's really the proper stuff from the likes of Nikka and Suntory, and some smaller operations, that continues to skyrocket in price. Whether single malt or blended. End rant, let's get back on track!
But before we do that, I was recently treated to a dram of Ardbeg Renaissance that was released back in 2008, the first 10-year old Ardbeg that was distilled under Glenmorangie ownership since they purchased the distillery in 1997. Renaissance was the final instalment of the four-part "Peaty Path to Maturity" series, which were all fully matured in ex-bourbon casks, were bottled at cask strength, and had both vintages and ages clearly stated. Shared between three whisky-loving mates who had all been major Ardbeg fans until a few years ago, this very special dram invoked the same reaction from all three of us; "Oh how the mighty have fallen". Well, in all honesty we may have used some more colourful language, but words to that effect! An Ardbeg with decent age, quality casks, fully natural presentation including actual cask strength, and no ridiculous marketing bullshit. The time-proven Ardbeg recipe that would fall apart around a decade later when the marketing department took too much acid and decided that distillery fans needed at least five limited and/or "committee" releases every year, each with a higher price tag and a lower ABV than its predecessor. Meat pies, web comics about some sort of secret agent - no I haven't read any of it and frankly I'd rather drink Wee Beastie, which is really saying something - and myriad limited releases which had interesting unique selling points on paper, but ended up being major disappointments. Ardcore comes to mind in particular there. That's not to say there haven't been some tasty whiskies among the increasing numbers of releases from Ardbeg - the decent but overpriced 13-year old "Harpy's Tale" for example, and the 19-year Traigh Bhan which is sadly very overpriced and has been since the second batch was released in 2020 - by my reckoning the Australian pricing has increased by $100 with each new batch, all with identical specifications. They're now trying to retail Batch 4 for a ridiculous $499 AUD, and surprise, surprise; it's not moving. Even the distillery's long-standing core range NAS releases Uigeadail and Corryvreckan have jumped in pricing to a point beyond most people's comfort levels.
There has been one recent exception to this trend, though; Ardbeg 8-year old "For Discussion" which was released back in 2021 for a very reasonable price. If you ask me, this has been the new benchmark in quality & value for an Ardbeg official bottling ever since. As far as quality vs. price I'd peg it as the pick of Ardbeg's "committee releases" since Dark Cove was released back in 2016, possibly challenged by the higher ABV committee versions of 2018's Grooves and 2021's Scorch. 8-Year Old For Discussion is a permanent release so it's still widely available, and has actually become more affordable in the years since it's release - current pricing on the Ardbeg Committee Australia website is just $115 AUD with a branded tumbler glass. That's an absolute steal, only $20 above the local pricing for the standard 10-year old. BizarreBQ might just be another exception to the Ardbeg trend at a similar strength and a similar price point to the 8-year old, but it's quite a different whisky. That benchmark 8-year old bottling was fully matured in refill sherry casks, which is quite unusual for Ardbeg. BizarreBQ is even more unusual, being matured in three different cask types: "double charred oak" (which I take to mean refill ex-bourbon hogsheads that have been re-charred), Pedro Ximinez sweet sherry casks, and experimental "BBQ charred" casks which were apparently charred over a brazier. Beyond that, Ardbeg is being very cagey with the details on this one. We don't know the proportions of these different cask components, and we don't know how long the whisky spent in any of them, nor do we know the overall age. We don't know if these cask types were used for finishing or if they were fully matured separately and then married together, which was standard operating procedure for Ardbeg until only a few years ago. The BBQ link is a marketing exercise "collaboration" between Ardbeg and an American BBQ chef who goes by "DJ BBQ". That collaboration only began in 2020, which leads me to believe that at least those BBQ charred casks were only used as a finish, if not the other cask types as well. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, by any means, but it would be nice to know.
The chosen ABV for this one is 50.9%, which is not cask strength - when did we last see an official bottling of Ardbeg that was actually stated to be cask strength? Or even one that was at a believable cask strength? If you discount the stupidly expensive single cask official bottlings, if I recall correctly that would be Ardbog from 2013? Corryvreckan and Uigeadail are bottled at consistent batch strengths, although they're certainly high enough for anyone. The Ardbeg Day / Feis Ile releases seem to be dropping in ABV every year, in opposition to their pricing and in some cases also their quality. BizarreBQ is very reasonably priced though, at $145 AUD, and as mentioned it's still readily available. The real question is; is BizarreBQ worth the extra $30 over the current AU pricing for the 8-year old? Let's find out, shall we?
Matured/finished in "double charred oak" casks, (presumably re-charred ex-bourbon hogsheads), PX sherry casks, and "BBQ charred" casks which were charred over a brazier. Non-chill filtered, assumed natural colour.
Colour: Copper.
Nose: Sweet, smoky, coastal. Tangy sweet & sour sauce, drying salt-laden seaweed, and a thick & spicy fruity BBQ sauce. Warm ashy wood smoke, lemon juice, and smoked pork ribs. Blowtorched herbs (rosemary & thyme), touch of grilled stone fruit & caramelised pineapple.
Texture: Medium weight. Oily, sweet & spicy, warming & smoky. No heat at all.
Taste: More wood smoke, thick & ashy, and more spices - smoked paprika. Big squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Touch of sweet shellfish (BBQ'd again) and those smoked pork ribs again. Some charred wood (hickory?), more grilled stone fruit & caramelised pineapple in brown sugar. That sweet & spicy BBQ sauce again, plus a few whole black peppercorns.
Finish: Medium length. Soft earthy peat, more lemon juice, touch of aniseed. Hickory wood, touch of black cherry in the background. Blowtorched herbs & black peppercorns. BBQ sauce and grilled stone fruit to finish.
Score: 4 out of 5.
Notes: Extra tasting / nosing note just for the Aussies: BBQ Shapes, but from before they changed the recipe and ruined them. This Ardbeg is really quite delicious, and it's a nice departure from their usual flavour profile without going too far like most of the recent "experimental" Ardbeg day releases. While they're very tight-lipped about the details on those "BBQ charred casks", the BBQ notes are there in spades. That's within the usual peated whisky wheelhouse at least (particularly in some Port Charlottes and also some mainland peated malts), and BizarreBQ doesn't feel undercooked (pun intended) like most of those special releases from the last few years. In fact I'd say this is on par with the 8-year old For Discussion, and that both of these semi-limited but still widely-available releases are better than any of the Ardbeg Day bottlings since Dark Cove Committee Release back in 2016. Both are also significantly cheaper and represent far greater value for money, if you ask me. Good stuff!
More of these please Ardbeg, and less of the marketing bullshit - web comics very much included.
Cheers!