Ardbeg Wee Beastie

It’s been a beast of a week. And what should of been an Ardbeg every night of the week has not come to pass. Still, Wee Beastie is in the glass and I am pumped. Off the heels of a very solid open on Ardbeg 10, the Wee Beastie comes in at 5 y/o and offers a mix of ex-Bourbon and Olorosso casking. N: Sharp and punchy, the peat is a little damp and mulchy and gives a rotten wood on the bonfire kind of effect to the smokiness. Behind that though are some toffee, candy sweetness, stewed baking apples, a little sherbet like lemon sourness and an all encompassing salty-oily-peppery-wooded medley. The nose feels young, but it also has a lovely playfulness that is quite enticing. P: A little thin on arrival. Sweetness and black pepper add a surprising brightness to a sharp dilute lemon squash soaked peatyness. The smoke is salty but a little harsh. Sweetness develops with successive sips and leans towards stone fruits like lychee and nectarine with maybe some ginger-caramel. Theres nothing particularly special here, its on the aggressive side and if anything is a little underdeveloped. F: Surprisingly long. Oily, peppery, preserved lemon and mulchy peat. The smoke loses out in the finish. The name Wee Beastie and a 5 year age statement primed me into thinking this was going to be a vibrant, exciting version of the standard 10 year old, albeit a little less nuanced and refined. It’s not quite that in my mind. The nose is the stand out, theres plenty of big bold notes and lots to get excited about but from there it kind of goes down hill into mediocrity. The excellent notes of lemon, sea air influence and delicately perfumed smoke are just not there. A sweetness replaces these that makes the dram seem like a budget blend rather than a gatekeeper of whisky excellence (that I believe Ardbeg are regarded to be). This isn’t a wee beastie, its just a wee impersonation of something quite excellent. That said, its still good. Onwards we forge… Distiller whisky taste #224 [Pictured here with a Dicranurus monstrous, a real wee beastie. This is a trilobite, a type of marine arthropod from the Devonian Period. These horned monsters are found in Morocco, Oklahoma, and New York. This ones from Morocco. The incredible spines used to be thought of as adaptations for fighting but the position behind the delicate exposed eyes makes this unlikely. They were almost certainly a defensive mechanism against predators and an anti sinking aid for the soft sea floor mud they lived and fed on. A recent hypotheses has speculated that the spines hosted organisms called bryozoans (similar to corals), meaning the spines were like a palaeozoic ghille suit. What a wee beastie!] Ardbeg running scores: Ardbeg 10: 4.25/5 Wee Beastie: 3/5

Review #077 Type: single malt scotch Proof: 47.4% Comments: aged 5 years, matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso sherry casks Tasted after: first up Appearance (no score): Russet color. Swirling reveals a thin line sticking to the side of the glass, legs are slow to form. Nose: 14/20 Vanilla, peat smoke, and lemon zest are most prominent. Some additional nosing also reveals some orange peel, molasses, and honey. Palate: 30/40 Oak spices and campfire smoke lead on the first sip. There’s also sweet honey, some vanilla, white pepper, and toasted bread. Finish: 31/40 Medium finish. Starts off with bold spicy oak tannins and black pepper. It becomes mildly salty throughout, fading from spice and pepper to bitter citrus notes, then becoming nutty, and eventually ending by leaving an ashy aftertaste behind. With Water: A couple drops of water emphasizes the honey sweetness on the palate and somewhat mutes the pepper and spice notes on the finish. Total: 75/100 Final thoughts: I’m actually very impressed with this bottle, for an Ardbeg it punches way above its price point. I think it’s better than a number of limited release expressions they’ve come out with. It’s not a whirlwind of complex flavors but it’s a solid dram at a good value. I actually bought this bottle with the intention of making some old fashioned cocktails with it. That said I’ve sipped my way through more than half the bottle already and haven’t tried one yet! Price: $40 Would recommend: yes Would buy: yes Scoring Legend: 96-100: The perfect dram, absolutely exceptional, nectar of the gods, I will savor this bottle and make it last, 5 stars. 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky, 4.75 stars. 85-89: Very good to amazing, almost the complete product, 4.5 stars. 80-84: Quite good, very enjoyable to drink, but doesn’t wow me, 4.25 stars. 75-79: Good, enjoyable but ultimately flawed, unlikely to purchase again, 4 stars. 70-74: A solid dram, but wouldn't go out of my way to get it, 3.75 stars. 55-69: Drinkable, 3.5-2.75 stars. Below 55: Suitable for cooking or direct contribution to the kitchen sink drain, 2.5 stars or less.

Nose: Sweet grapes, white stone-fruit, lemon drops, green olive brine, mild peat smoke. There is a machine oil note, wet oily wool and a suggestion of a peat bog as you squelch through it on a rainy day. Adding a dash of water adds depth to the nose without changing the profile. Palate: Sweet, salty and smoky on the arrival in the classic Ardbeg manner with pears, barley sugar and honey on display, but this is a delicate, gentle dram with an initially diaphanous texture. As it develops it veers towards dryness, becomes briny (almost tequila-like for a moment!), more citric and the texture gains body, becoming silky. Reduction with a dash of water brings out more barley sugar but does not turn the palate sour or rubbery, as can often be the case with peated whiskies. Finish: Medium/Long. Salty, smoked citrus-fruit with some pepper. There is a dash of eucalyptus oil and a little bitterness in the aftertaste. This bitterness disappears when the whisky is reduced. Very easy to drink and quite mild in comparison to other peated whiskies, this could arguably be summed up as the subtle and pretty face of Ardbeg. It is definitely youthful but contrary to my expectation the peating level seems quite low. It is not bombastic or raw, which some young peaters can be, but instead it is contained and controlled. I was unsure what reducing it would do but fear not, it is capable of taking water with ease. It does not lose anything but becomes more gentle, soft and sweeter. I like this young Ardbeg a lot. For all its youth it’s quite charming and it would be a very good choice to pour for yourself and a novice to whom you are introducing peated whiskies. As for the name "Wee Beastie", don't assume that they are inferring that this whisky is a monstrous creature. On the contrary, it’s a cute little beastie like Robbie Burns' wee mouse, or the otters that are sometimes seen near the distillery. Tasted from a 30ml sample “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)

ABV: 47.4% (94.8 proof) Provenance: Scotland, Islay Mashbill: 100% malted barley Age Statement: 5 years Cask(s) : Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Oloroso Sherry Added Colour: ? Chill Filtered: No On the nose, this scotch is just pure peat smoke. For my money, this would be a winner if there were other things to take out from the nosing, but it is extremely hard to smell past the wall of smoke. There are a few hints however, notably the brininess as well as some sea breeze, but they are very faint and come and go seemingly randomly. The mouth is in many ways a continuation of the nose, but this time tangible things show up. Of course, the peatiness is the star of the show once again, but the few other faint notes that appeared on the nose materialize themselves into something realer on the palate. If you are someone who knows exactly what they like and don’t really want to think twice about what they drink and just want a smokey whiskey, this might be the one for you. Calling it a peat bomb wouldn’t really do it justice, this is a peat nuke. So much so that the nuclear mushroom has blasted everything in its radius to a pulp, leaving only the overpowering smoke. This one is a bit too unilateral for me, but I still enjoy it from time to time, My enjoyment from whiskey comes from trying to identify subtle notes that hide beneath the main notes. In this case, there’s really only one, and it brutally attacks you any chance it gets. I’d really recommend spending the few extra bucks to get the 10 year. 5 years is extremely young for a whiskey, and I applaud Ardbeg for their transparency of such an AS on the bottle, but the result is a scotch that is just a bit too young, underdeveloped and a bit disappointing.

A peated Single Malt Scotch Whisky by Ardbeg Distillery in Islay, Scotland aged for 5 years in matured in ex Bourbon & Oloroso Sherry casks. It has an aromatic birth with notes of sea spray, rock pools, smoked malt, damp bonfire wood, vegetal smoke, brown sugar, pear drops, vanilla, cooked apple, spareribs, lemon sherbet, black pepper & wood shavings; while a bold life adds notes of citrus oil, orchard fruits, tart dark berries, hickory-smoked bacon, eucalyptus, dark chocolate, pepper steak, creosote, clove, lychee, peach, salted caramel, damp peat & dry wood smoke; that leads to a long & briny death with notes of oak, sea spray & seaside bonfire smoke. April / August 2022

So to preface I am someone who really enjoys peat and smoke and a lot of the stereotypical islay scotch flavors. But I really like this, it does taste like a 5 year, it's clearly a young scotch. But the flavors are very intense, I get some honey and butterscotch and chocolate type notes and just heavy peat and smoke. It's not terribly sophisticated or anything, but it's just a punch in the nose and palette of flavor.