OK, so I didn’t write anything really informative about the casks in the title, but this is how Ardbeg markets this one. As one who doesn’t shy away from some good old barbecue, this peaked my interest.

What they mean by this newfangled term is that they charred the casks insanely heavily. Normally, there are four levels of charring, with a very light one on level 1, and level 4 being called ‘Alligator Charring’, this one steps things up a little bit more by ‘double charring’ it.

This expression was made by a collaboration between someone who calls himself ‘DJ BBQ‘ and Bill Lumsden of LVMH (Ardbeg’s mother company).

The other casks used are PX sherry casks, and regular charred oak casks. There is no information on the percentages of one cask versus the other, and I don’t think that matters a lot. We’re here to find out if it is any good, and whether it differs enough from the regular expressions!

Sniff:
There’s sherry, smoked eel, tar, coastal grasses and sand dunes. Very Ardbeg, so to say. Quite intense with peat and black pepper. There’s also a lot of charcoal and wood, ash.

Sip:
Lots of char, with PX sherry sweetness and dried prunes and dates. A hint of orange liqueur, with ash and a hint of tarry ropes, marram grass.

Swallow:
The finish is a bit less diverse, and focuses even more on the woody notes. Still sweet and slightly fruity, but mostly coastal smoke, oak, ash and char.

So, yes, the charring is clearly noticeable and while it does force a lot of woody and wood driven flavors onto the whisky, it’s not as straight forward as, let’s say, Laphroaig Quarter Cask. It’s quite sweet, but the sweetness is offset by the charry notes and the coastal peat flavors. All in all, I found this one dangerously drinkable, and went through my part of the bottle quite quickly!

87/100

Prices vary wildly, but start at £ 75 in the UK and about € 100 in Europe.