Ardbeg Grooves Committee Bottling (2018) 51.6%abv 30ml

Grooves was the name given to the Committee bottling in 2018 finished in wine casks. Its named after the wine casks that were heavily charred to create grooves within the cask increasing surface area. In 2018, this was a divisive whisky as it was quite different and experimental and there was a lot of marketing and flower power t-shirts - the marketing team got really 'Groovy' with this one. This whisky doesn't swim well and the 46% limited edition version suffers worse than the committee version as one of the bonuses of the higher abv is the interesting creamy and oily mouthfeel. Since then Ardbeg has pumped out all sorts of marketing led whiskies that might be far worse than Grooves. In 2021 they made Ardbeg Scorch which I hear uses the same cask types but I suspect Grooves was aged and finished longer than Scorch as you can pick out more wine notes, red berries and more smoke - with a bittersweet note like dark chocolate covered coffee beans. Clearly Bourbon and Sherry casks are getting harder to source so Ardbeg is trying all sorts of alternatives - tricky when the bourbon and sherry Ardbegs are such classics. I panned this whisky at the time - but maybe it was the shock of the new and 6 years on our palates may have adjusted and its interesting to revisit.