Ardbeg Blaaack Committee Edition Scotch Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

Every year since 2014, that fabled and peaty Scottish island of Islay has seen Ardbeg Day sometime at the end of May or beginning of June. Usually a festival held at the distillery, this year it was a virtual celebration due to the pandemic. However, Ardbeg Day was still marked by the release of The Blaaack, an annual single malt expression often noted for its ballsy character.

The 2020 Blaaack is noteworthy as the Committee Edition, Ardbeg’s fan club. That group now has over 100,000 members and is marking its 20th anniversary this year. It was matured in casks formerly used for New Zealand Pinot Noir and bottled at a cask strength of 50.7%. This version Ardbeg Blaaack 2020 is ostensibly available only to members of the Committee, but these things always have a way of finding their way into wider distribution and examples can be seen in the U.S. and Europe with online retailers.

Distinct and separate from the Committee, cask strength release of The Blaaack 2020 is a general release version, bottled at 46% ABV. I got to try the Committee version, so pay close attention both to which version you are eyeing over for purchase and how much is being asked for it.

The Scotch
The color of this red wine-aged malt upon reaching a Glencairn is light copper. The nose has that potent current of smokiness one should expect from an Ardbeg, and especially from The Blaaack, but in this instance it comes forward as a mix of toasted cereals and the oily smoke of burning, open lantern drawing on a pool of animal fat. Behind that is a creamy, berry and vanilla sweet aspect, plus a dollop of malty honey.

The flavor takes the toasted cereals and runs with it, so that those grains are now cracked and almost burnt. It’s rather acrid at first, but this fades to allow the berries, honey and vanilla to reassert themselves, joined by bananas as the smoky aspect evolves from cracked and toasty grains to creosote, all of this with a light brushing of saline. The finish is just plain and simple ashy.

The Blaaack 2020 lives up to its billing as a ballsy, peaty malt, and one that struts its stuff well without any water as bottled. Get the stronger Committee release if you can.

The Price
This offering went for £94 in the UK and should fetch $140 in the States, but I see online retailers asking for $260 for the 46% ABV general release version. As previously stated, collectors and bottle hunters should be clear on which version they are buying, because it’s hard to justify the inflated prices for anything but the Committee version and perhaps not even then.