Reviews for Ardbeg Uigeadail
Lovely dram - but as good as Laphroaig 007?
Bought this as the same time as Laphroaig's latest 007 10yo cask strength and one night took some time to compare them - and very jolly I was afterwards, too. At the time, I tended to favour the Laphroaig. However, last evening I stayed with the Ardbeg in a globular wine glass. What was amazing was when the glass was nearly empty, there was the incredible combination of creosote, smoked oily fish, tobacco and coal tar soap, which sounds awful but was quite delicious. I feel another night of comparison beckoning!
Robert Smith Jun 30, 2015
19!
On a scale of 1 to 10... Truly fantastic stuff, you get a Lagavulin level of quality and sophistication with that signature Ardbeg peat and sweet - this is the best single malt available imo.
Master of Malt Customer Jun 21, 2015
Enter the Peat!
Loved this dram. Still relatively new to drinking scotch. However I did have the Laphroaig QC..I found the medicinal taste overpowering the rest of the flavor, and could not enjoy it. The Ardbeg though was delicious. A burst of smokey peat, with a very nice long finish.
Master of Malt Customer Jun 17, 2015
Add a splash of water, and voilá!
Such an enjoyable dram. Don't take it neat, in my opinion, the alcohol level is just too high for your palate to appreciate it. It litteraly numbs the nerve endings and thereby lowers sensitivity. A splash of water opens up this Ardbeg and reveals its complexity and sweet notes together with the wonderful peat-smoke.
Master of Malt Customer Jun 16, 2015
Unique and complex, but perfectly balanced flavor.
The nose is smokey with a distinct smell of gunpowder and black tea, iodine, and fresh rubber. The phenolic content of this whiskey isn't overpowering, as the character of the peat is more floral than earthy, finding an excellent balance with the smoke. The flavor is also unique, as the peat and smoke are more pronounced at the back of the mouth and throat than at the tip of the tongue; those flavors really seems to weave out from the initial tastes of rubber and alcohol, tempering the stronger flavors by numbing the tongue. There's also a distinct sweetness that is difficult to pin, but lingers like the whisper of vermouth ought to in a perfect martini.
This is my first peated whiskey, and I'm not quite sure what to say. I recognize the reasons why it is such a well loved bottle, and that the balance of flavors is nearly perfect with the sweetness of the cask, the smokiness, and the peated flavors, but I'm not sure if I'm fond of the overall flavor of Islay whiskeys. The medicinal aspects of the cresols are a little overpowering to my palate, and certainly sit on the tongue for many hours - eating a piece of bacon brought back the distinct smokiness an hour after my first glass, but also the cresols flavors that remind many people of band-aids or Lysol. That being said, I'm very happy that I purchased the Uigeadail rather than the Ardbeg 10yo or a Talisker 10yo, as with the Uigeadail you'll have no doubts that you're getting a truly authentic experience with an Islay whiskey.
Ian P Apr 26, 2015
