Last week we started off Ardbeg April with the “new” Ardbeg 17yo. This time around we are going to have a look at one of the many Ardbeg NAS bottlings.  This bottling was released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ardbeg Committee. A lot of Ardbeg special releases are different in many different ways. For instance, some of the ones I previously reviewed use casks that previously held different kinds of liquids, like several fortified Wines of the Pedro Ximenez or Marsala kind. Some have a more out of the box idea behind them, like BBQ casks (!), double charred casks or casks with toasted virgin oak lids.

This Smokiverse is one of these out of the box ones. No funny business with casks this time, but funny business with mashing. This time we are talking about high gravity mashing, which means that the wort is highly concentrated or more dense and subsequently contains more (acetate) esters, giving flavour, or better, which áre the flavour. Less water, more grain, and to cut a long story short, this would result in a more (tropical) fruity and maybe sweeter Ardbeg. Also no mention at all about the casks used on the box or the label, so lets assume (refill) Bourbon casks before starting off, careful with that assumption, Eugene…

Color: Straw.

Nose: Some smoke, with citrussy yellow fruits, so definitely fruity. Recognizable Ardbeg peat, earthy and funky. Also a little bit of funky organics going on within the peat smell. Fans of Ardbeg will recognize it immediately. Hints of burnt plastic, like melting cables. Luckily a mere hint, because if this would have been a more dominating smell, we would be in for a problematic journey. Hints of sulphur in the smell. Tea and moss. Is it overly fruity? No, I wouldn’t say so. Based on the marketing I expected slightly more fruit. The fruit, by the way, is all citrus, I have a hard time finding any kind of tropical fruit in it, and most definitely no ripe tropical fruit. All in all, the nose is quite restrained and also a bit simple. It doesn’t attack my nose when it nears the glass. It helps to warm the glass inside in your hand for a while, to get more out of it. Warming mocha pastry type of smell, maybe even mocha cake made with cream. For me a well behaved Ardbeg. The focus here lies on the dense mash, and with that the fruit, yet the name focuses on smoke. I have to admit that the smoke has a larger role in this one than even the peat does. For me these two definitely do no define this Ardbeg, both don’t dominate the nose of this Ardbeg, something else almost does. Please read on. I guess the marketing department read a story about it, in stead of tasting it. Personally, I would have used images of alone drinker in an armchair and a fireplace instead of a galaxy. I guess the galaxy came in when someone read the word “gravity”, not bothering to ask someone with a nose how this actually smells. But hey, I might be way ahead of myself here, I’m rambling, ranting almost, without even tasting it, so let’s do that now, shall we?

Taste: Well, “nutty” was the first wordt that sprang to mind when tasting this for the first time. Smoke and liquorice next, liquorice is a main marker, it pops up everywhere, and is especially present in the finish and aftertaste, aided again by some smoke. Slightly sweet, but not in a fruity way, yet more like a sweetness coming from the liquorice. The taste is a bit thin again, so again, I feel this is an Ardbeg that needs a bigger gulp, like the 17yo from the previous review did. By the way, this review is written on a entirely different day than that of the 17 yo’s, in case you might wonder. The next sip was indeed a bigger gulp, and yes that’s it, this brings it out way better! I immediately poured some more in my glass. Proper gulping needs more volume. If you have one open, and you are reading this, please join me. The bigger gulp offers us much more depth, more sweetness and yes more liquorice. The whole comes together way better, also achieving a better balance. Chewy sweetness and yes finally, with more ripe fruits as well, with this tiny smoky backbone holding it al together. Interesting development.

48.3% ABV is slightly higher than most of these NAS bottlings which are bottled at 46% ABV I believe. I also understand why. This well behaved Ardbeg needed a bit of a boost, only, 48.3% ABV is still not enough, it’s still too quiet and maybe too well behaved, or it is what it is and we need to accept that this is its nice character. Letting it stand for a while, more of the Islay traits emerge, smoke, peat and tar. The Ardbeg smoke we all know, but not more or different from other Ardbegs, so to especially use the word “smoke”in the name is in my opinion slightly misplaced. Let it go, it’s not important really.

This almost turned out to be a review of a marketing idea instead of the Whisky. I’m sorry for that. Don’t worry, this is only a minor distraction. This is again most definitely not a bad Ardbeg, like many of the other special NAS releases, that somehow get a lot of negative reviews. Granted, Uigeadail and Corryvreckan are very, very good, high in ABV and cost (much) less. And the Ten is not bad either. Still I like Smokiverse. It’s a contemplative Malt, not one for a (big) group of people to have together, but one for you by yourself in your armchair before a cosy fire. To finish things off, haters will be haters, but for me this “yet another NAS” has more than enough interesting things that I like.

Points: 86