Translate Caskstrength!

Tuesday 15 April 2008

Ardbeg Corryvreckan it's a good 'un
















Ardbeg - Corryvreckan - OB - 57.1% - Committee bottling - limited to 5000

Unusally we have a news section today, as Ardbeg's latest committee bottling (the first for a while) arrives in the post at caskstrength.net towers! We'll be trying this little beauty out at Feis Ile, when we'll post a review with, hopefully, some other tastings of Ardbeg's little stash. But for now you'll have to do with some photos. The bottle is the classic Ardbeg OB shape in dark green glass, with label on the front and back but no box. The front label reads: "Committee Reserve Ardbeg Corryvreckan (tm)" - another distillery trademarking their whisky names - "Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky". Then some text reading "Ardbeg Corryvreckan is a limited bottling released exclusively to the Ardbeg Committee. Deep, gutsy and very peaty, this is a high strength, non chill-filtered Ardbeg. It epitomises the challenging, powerful taste of Ardbeg, 'the untamed spirit of Islay'" Across this text in red letter is "stamped" the words "HANDLE WITH CARE 100% PROOF" Yes, well, two things here: 1. Ardbeg won't send to the US, so why stamp that across it! and 2. Don't you think people who join the Committee may well be aware of the strength of whisky, esp anything over 55% vol... still, it looks bloomin' amazing.

On the back, the label reads "Limited Edition Ardbeg Corryvreckan. To the north of Islay and Jura is the world's second largest whirlpool, the famous Corryvreckan. Our Celtic ancestors knew it as the 'Mother Goddess' or 'womb of all creation'. Today this thunderous, seething cauldron is named after the brave Viking Prince Breacan, who perished there proving his devotion to the daugher of the Lord Of The Isles. Ardbeg Corryvreckan is the latest bottling to be released exclusively to the Ardbeg Committee. As it swirls around the glass, raw and powerful aromas surge to the surface, an irresistable invitation to delve deeper. Challenging, dark and dangerous, Corryvreckan is the epitome of Ardbeg, the 'untamed spirit of Islay'. Ardbeg, like Corryvreckan, is not for the faint-hearted!"

It then has an amusing "no swimming" logo in the bottom left of the back label.

Extras: The bottle comes with two other "extra" pieces. The first is the tag around the neck. Made from card and sealed with a small Ardbeg sticker, it contains a booklet telling of the ledgend of Corryvreckan with a map and some stuff about the Vikings. So, they've clearly worked out where their biggest market is...! The second thing is a beautiful receipt, in the form of a time-card for wages. Why? we've no idea! It is hand written with your name on it and the price of the bottle; £45. There is a large Ardbeg stamp also across it as well as the date of purchase (in this case, 11.04.08). It really is an awesome addition to the bottling.

As mentioned earlier, we will be doing tasting notes of this bottling during Feis Ile, so keep a look out for that. Enjoy the pictures!