The first entry in Ardbeg’s new cash grab Anthology series, The Harpy’s Tale has been matured for 13 years in rare Sauternes wine casks and married with classic Ardbeg ex-bourbon. As per Ardbeg standard, it is not chill-filtered, and no color is added. It is bottled at 46% ABV.

For my review, I drank this neat from a Glencairn after letting the pour sit 10-15 minutes.

Nose

The first thing that hits me here is a strong sweet undercurrent of sugar cookies, pineapple, and vanilla. Following quickly behind that is a mix of peat and a metallic tang reminiscent of copper. Following behind it all is a faint waft of ocean brine. Overall, it is very pleasant and suggest a complex spirit.

Palate

The nose does not lie. This is a complex spirit, and there’s a lot going on with the flavors. At various points I caught strong hits of spice, including black pepper, coriander, cardamom and clove. There’s sweetness there, a creamy vanilla mixed with hints of apricot, but not as strong as I expected after the nose. The peat is very strong, and brings with it some bitter notes that stay with you well into the finish. The seawater brine is here, too, as are some notes of pine.

Finish

I was disappointed at first with how quickly the finish dissipated, but halfway through my first dram the finish was lingering significantly longer. Pepper and spices mixed with vanilla coat the tongue pleasantly. However, they’re joined by a not-so-pleasant lingering ashy bitterness that I find hard to ignore. There’s also lingering peat, as well as raw wood that at times strongly reminds me of popsicle sticks.

Comparisons

I’m trying to include at least one comparison in my reviews since I find the tasting notes to be so subjective. Being able to use other bottlings as baselines for comparison seems a little more… useful? For this bottling, though, I’m not sure which would be the most appropriate Ardbeg to compare it to.

The Ardbeg 10 can be a good baseline for comparison for anything in the Ardbeg line, since it is part of their core line and has some very characteristic notes. The Harpy’s Tale does fairly well compared to the 10, in that it is far more complex. I like Ardbeg 10 quite a bit, but it is fairly simple. Harpy’s Tale is nowhere near as sweet, nor does it have the strong citrus flavor I associate with the 10. Both have strong peaty smoke, but the Harpy’s Tale brings significantly more ashy bitterness with the peat. Though both are bottled at 46%, the Harpy’s Tale does have a stronger finish.

Considering the price point and the complexity of the Harpy’s Tale, Ardbeg Uigeadail is worth mentioning, too. I find Uigeadail to be much more complex than the 10, as well as a bit pricier. Harpy’s Tale beats Uigeadail in both regards. It has a lot more flavors vying for attention, and is certainly much more expensive. However, Uigeadail just feels more… polished. Some of that may be the difference between cask strength and the 46% Harpy’s Tale release. I think Harpy’s Tale may have been better served bottled at cask strength. I’m not sure if it would have avoided the lingering ash-and-popsicle-stick finish, but certainly the $140+ price tag would have been more palatable if it were cask strength.

In the end, though, I think the main way that Harpy’s Tale loses out to Uigeadail is that it is, well… just kind of all over the place. I find the various notes interesting. Enjoyable, even. But I’m simply not sure they work together. Certainly some of the notes seems to fight against others. Sometimes that works well, like the peat countering the sweetness on the palate. But in other cases I just don’t think it works out. Uigeadail, by comparison, is a strong, polished whisky that builds a cohesive whole from the sum of its flavorful parts.

Conclusion

I was a bit hesitant to pick this one up, despite my general appreciation for Ardbeg. The only one of the special releases I’ve tried was Scorch (for the record, I liked it, but I also didn’t have a lot of other heavily peated whiskies to compare it to). The reviews across the recent special releases have been pretty consistent in their criticisms: the uniqueness isn’t justified by the premium price, even when the uniqueness “works”.

I’m inclined to agree, including the Harpy’s Tale.

Overall, I did enjoy it, and I am glad that I pulled the trigger on this bottle. It’s interesting. I do enjoy savoring it and moving my focus from flavor to flavor in a way I can’t with the other Ardbegs I’ve had (10, Wee Beastie, Uigeadail, and Scorch). I wish it worked better, though, and while I wouldn’t turn down a dram offered to me, I also wouldn’t buy another bottle. There are too many jarringly off notes, and the price makes me a bit resentful that it isn’t cask strength. I have a suspicion, as well, that some of the unflattering notes are due to the watering down.