Single Malt
Scotland
No
Yes
This stunning expression from Islay's Ardbeg distillery on the Kildalton Coast is named after a nearby loch (pronounced "Oog-a-dal"). It's the perfect example of how sweet and savoury notes can work together spectacularly - you'll find Ardbeg's maritime salinity intact here, combined with dried fruit notes imparted by time spent in sherry casks. Kind of like when you mix sweet popcorn and salty popcorn together, it results in something absolutely wonderful.
Multifaceted, notes of peat and little flourishes of dark sugar, freshly ground espresso beans, cereal notes and a most sophisticated tar.
Led by sweet, ripe fruit and black forest honey. A good helping of malt. The throne then usurped by a powerful peat and smoked barley.
Very long, caramel and malt weave their way through peat smoke and dark sugar and just a hint of fresh espresso coffee before it finally peters out.
Such deft balance! How wonderful to sample Ardbeg so beautifully complimented by sherry.
Hey pssssst. Here's a tip. Look on the back of the shelf where the Uigies are kept. Look for an older one with a pre-2010 bottling code. If you find one, then you've probably got a bottle with some 17 year Ardbeg in it. I found a 2007 Uigie that just blew me away. It had some very old Ardbeg and it was sooooooooooooooo much better than the new ones.
From a newbie: One really memorable encounter from years ago (1997) with the smoothest Johnny Walker Black Label ever, inspired me to start a new hobby in 2015: tasting whisky; and to focus: single malt. My first purchase and tasting was a 12 year old Bunnahabhain, quite some adventure indeed. The Ardbeg Uigeadail (from a 2014 batch) was my second whisky: an overwhelming three zip experience never to be forgotten, everything I could wish for was there. So glad this whisky exists!
What a whiskey. It entertains your the gustatory papillae for a long time.
I really do enjoy this drop. It has a nice kick from its strength and it's quite peaty. However, it doesn't really compare to Laphroaig's utterly astounding quarter cask for flavour. In any choice between the two, Laphroaig wins hands down.
This is obviously going to be of interest to Islay and peat enthusiasts - rather pointless to spend fifty quid on this and complain that it's "too peaty" - this is what to expect. However, yes it's strong (cask strength) and yes it's heavily peaty, but there is quite a subtle and rather lovely sweetness lurking behind the mystery too. Takes some times to open up (mine did with ice, and I don't care if people think that's some kind of heresy, that's how I like my whisky) to reveal some sherry on the nose, brown sugar on the palate and a rather pleasing spicy tang on the finish. Not amazing, but relatively cheap, so should be investigated.
