Ardbeg Perpetuum
200th Anniversary Nose
0 1388
Review by @Victor
- Nose25
- Taste22
- Finish20
- Balance21
- Overall88
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Ardbeg Perpetuum is the 2015 Ardbeg Day release, celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Ardbeg Distillery. There is no age statement. Ardbeg reports that both bourbon barrels and sherry casks were used for aging Perpetuum. The reviewed bottle has been open for 1 month and is courtesy of @Nock
Colour: very pale
Nose: sharp-edged, mostly high pitched slightly acrid smoke and medium-sweet peat accompany well-integrated malt flavours. Brine and a very slight hint of wine influence are well-integrated into this phenomenal nose. Absolutely first rate. If you hadn't told me there was wine cask used here, I would not have thought there was any present
Taste: sharp on the palate as it is in the nose, especially after 4 weeks of air time; bitter briney peat is more prominent in the mouth than in the nose. The palate is not as well balanced as is the nose, but still very enjoyable
Finish: goes a little more sour and bitter than I would have preferred, but if you like sour and bitter, then you will like this. The acrid peat and smoke hang around on your tongue for a week
Balance: loses balance on the palate into the finish. Four weeks after the bottle was open the flavours have come out even more strongly than at first. They are, however, less harmonious 4 weeks later than they tasted when the bottle was first opened. I rated Ardbeg Perpetuum 91 points when the bottle was first opened
The wine influence in Perpetuum is so slight as to be almost imperceptible. Overall this is a very nice Ardbeg, which in style is very much like Ardbeg Ten. For me this would be about a 70th percentile Ardbeg Ten in quality, at twice or thrice the price of Ardbeg Ten. The nose is truly outstanding, however, and very worthwhile
Water added: 1) homogenised the nose, 2) emphasised the smoke and brine on the palate, and 3) mellowed out the finish and made it much smoother
Strength: excellent strong flavours, other than the wine which might as well not be there. Score: 24/25 points
Quality: very good quality of all of the flavour elements, before it steers strongly sour-bitter. Score: 23/25 points
Variety: very good selection of flavours, when you look at the nuances. Score: 22/25 points
Harmony: balance and harmony are excellent in the nose, but are lost mid-palate going into the finish. Score: 19/25 points
Total non-sequential score: 88/100 points
Comment: this is another good Ardbeg. I'll be happy with one bottle of this one, though, and will shop for good batches of Ardbeg Ten at half the cost
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I gotta say I have really gotten to like this one over the past month. Initially it was way too much charred wood and ash, but that has dropped off with air. It does have similarities to the Ten, but I get more ashy peat, which I enjoy. There is a bit of sherry, obviously more than the Ten but less than Corryvrecken. I would say it is better than all but one of the Ten's I've had over the years (still have a bottle of that one!), and is more comparable to Corryvrecken with a bit of SN2014 tossed in. Here the Ten is $40-45, Corry about $70-72 and this is $75-77. I definitely feel it's worth the bump, but only if you like a bit of ashy taste. The SN2014 had too much for me and was $120, so I bought only two. I have three of this one and might pick up another if the price doesn't go up.