Bottle 23: Ardbeg Smokiverse

Ardbeg Smokiverse

Distillery: Ardbeg Distillery
Region/Country: Islay, Scotland
Age: NAS
ABV: 48.3%
Cask type(s): ex-bourbon casks
Grain Bill: 100% malted barley

Tasting Notes

• Nose: “An explosion of fruity, estery notes, reminiscent of smoked bubblegum, fuse with whiffs of ripening barley and toasted sourdough bread. A splash of water reveals dense, sweet, and aromatic peat smoke, accompanied by gently smoked tropical fruits.”
  
• Palate: “A rich, creamy mouthfeel drifts into sharp, sooty and spicy notes of creosote, aniseed, and clove. Tempered by the distinct sweetness of muscovado sugar, robust woody notes orbit rich charcoal.”
  
• Finish: “Finally, in an almost infinite finish, earthy peat moss fuses with sizzling bonfire embers.”

Fèis Ìle

Every year, a massive 10-day festival happens on in island of Islay in a celebration of scotch whisky.

Fèis Ìle (“The Islay Festival”) is hosted by a lot of the Islay distilleries we’ve seen this December, as well as a few we’ve yet to try. To mark the occassion, Ardbeg Distillery typically releases a special bottle–this year, that was the Smokiverse. They’re experimenting with what they call high-gravity distillation, which draws on beer brewing techniques to create a malted barley concentrate for fermentation.

Living on Manger Street

By Stephanie Saldaña, from Plough Magazine. Enjoy the full reflection at the link.

I watched her approach the place of the manger at the side of the cave, kneeling where Mary had placed the child Jesus on a morning long ago. I remembered giving birth to her in Bethlehem. The long journey. The exhaustion. And finally, joy.

I could hear Carmel quietly singing to the manger. I could not recognize the song. It was nothing I had ever taught her. No, it was a song she had learned in her choir to sing in Spanish¹.

A la nanita, nana, nanita, ea!  
mi Jesús tiene sueño, ¡bendito sea! 

It took me a moment to understand. She was kneeling at the manger and singing the newborn baby Jesus a lullaby.

And Christmas arrived in its fullness. A child born to us. Here and now.

Footnotes

1. “To the little lullaby, nana, nana, ea! my Jesus is sleepy, blessed be He!”