Smoky Tongue Biter
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The Uigeadail has been a blank spot on my whisky resume for quite some time now, as the Ardbeg distillery still remains barely charted territory.
In my early whisky days I had some misconceptions about the distillery, due to my first encounter with a bad batch of Ardbeg 10yo. But now that my fate has been restored and I've turned my attention back to the Islay malts, I'm going to try out the Uigeadail, named after the loch that serves as the distillery's water source.
The Whisky
Nose: fairly simple actually, not too complex: fresh quite medicinal peat fresh from the moors (normally the trademark of Laphroaig) , deep smoke, humid dark forest soil, scents of iodine, rough ground black pepper, with underlying tones of sherry, almonds, honey and a whiff of vanilla.
Taste: tar, salty liquorice, lemon peels, tobacco; quite the tongue biter, (with water): honey,walnuts and surprisingly enough a slice of lemon cheese cake
Finish: long as it lingers in your mouth for a few minutes with notes of tar, black pepper, cigar smoke and chocolate raisins. The finish will leave you with the impression that you've just smoked a fine cigar
The Verdict
Wow, this was a great dram, I already regret not trying this earlier, I've been a fool. This puts Ardbeg right into my top 10 distilleries.
I'm not a firm believer in the terroir aspect of Scotch, but the three Kildalton distilleries sure do make some extraordinary, guess I'll just have to pack my bags and retire to Islay permanently, who knows maybe they're in need of a still-man for one of their distilleries.
I'm not a firm believer in the terroir aspect of Scotch, but the three Kildalton distilleries sure do make some extraordinary, guess I'll just have to pack my bags and retire to Islay permanently, who knows maybe they're in need of a still-man for one of their distilleries.
