Tastes

N: Cinnamon, caramel, honey, candied orange peel. Toffee and bread pudding with a caramel drizzle. Oak and vanilla, hint of char. Bit of ethanol, but probably less than expected for the ABV and not at all off-putting. Might be some nuttiness in the nose too. P: Sweet caramel corn, cinnamon, vanilla fudge. Banana bread. Oaky, but remarkable soft on the tannins. Baking spices develop above the caramel, but below the cinnamon - cinnamon rules everything here. Heavy, oily, coating mouthfeel that leaves a lot of residue. Bit of bitterness on the sides of the tongue that feels like something other than tannin. Orange or maybe another citrus fruit pops late and just barely above the radar, might bring a hint of chocolate with it. Finish is mostly cinnamon, but that bitterness lingers and the citrus bite comes so late it may as well be finish. The caramel hangs in to the end (with the cinnamon) too. In some ways, this very much tastes like an elevated Wild Turkey. Profile feels the same, but the good things are amplified and a few new tricks emerge. It is a bit dangerously easy to drink for 110 proof. All in all, I would expect that each barrel is a little different and I would love to get one that brings that citrus out a little more, but this is excellent and very tasty. Worth repurchasing every now and then to see how the character can change from barrel to barrel. (On that note, would be really nice if WT would put some barrel info on the bottle - I can't find any on mine.) Thanks to @WhiskeyLonghorn for the year end reviews and great recommendations.

N: Smoke bomb at first, but it softens over time. The smoke definitely has a peat funk to it, but with the softening it turns toward more of a wood smoke - like being down wind from someone else's campfire. Pronounced fishiness lands at dried, smoked fish - interesting. Brings back memories of drinking Russian beer and eating dried, smoked sardines with a Russian girl I once knew. Good memories. Citrus fruit, lemon cake, and other juicy fruits round it out. P: It's the smoked fish first—salty now, of course—but then a nice round caramel flavor fills in the sharper edges. Very juicy and sweet, like fruit candy or even fruit syrups. Vanilla softens the sweetness a bit. At some point you realize the smoke separated from the fish and now everything is just nicely, lightly smoked. Yellow cake sits underneath all of it (also smoked, obviously). Finish is all baking spice - maybe some clove, maybe some dried, ground ginger, little bit of cinnamon for sure. Heat level is medium, but can build if you drink quick. The yellow cake lingers through the finish giving it a nice balance and some extra character. This is crazy interesting, but, at the same time, I don't love it. I've had no problem finishing the bottle, but have a hard time imagining going through another. I also could see myself having a random craving for it in six months. Who knows?

New version. Non-chill filtered. Says "Bottled in Bond" on the label. Red cap. N: Wood, caramel, vanilla. Ethanol. Each of those notes develops some over time. The wood moves toward cedar, wood polish, and leather. The caramel is somewhat nuanced with a bit of bread pudding. The vanilla is in the bread pudding. Rye notes of mint and menthol arrive fashionably late. Hints of cinnamon too. The ethanol just moves the glass to your lips - lets be real here. P: Rich and woody. Rye pushes forward with mint, menthol, and an earthy eucalyptus sort of thing. But good balance with the warm caramel - like you'd find on an ice cream sundae (hello vanilla!). Wood cinnamon spice starts to get assertive after a few sips and lingers into the finish. Sweet and heady. Rich like a birthday cake, but made naturally dark by the grain (no added chocolate here). Spice gets hot as it sits on your tongue - still cinnamon, but approaching spicy pepper territory. Mild tannins show up in the palate late, but noticeably. And then the burn lingers... Excellent for a super cheap BIB rye. Easily competes with rye bottles twice its price (or more). Should be a go-to bottle for quiet weeknight sipping or for cocktails. It lacks some sophistication, but who cares at this price. It's damn tasty. One for the rotation.

N: Very fruity with cereal grains - comes across a bit like a grown-up version of Fruity Pebbles or Fruit Loops. That sounds bad, but it works. Oh, and that bowl of cereal is swimming in red wine, not milk. Super grown-up version... I'm not mocking it. It actually works and feels robust. The (let's say vaguely tropical) fruit mixes with the cereal notes and an obvious red wine note nicely. There are also hits of raisin (or other, less sweet dried fruit), toffee, and caramel - all adding balance and richness. P: It's basically the same as the nose, but maybe the order of appearance is different. I get raisin, toffee, red wine grapes, red wine, pot still spice, caramel, vanilla. Then it moves to an oaky bitterness which serves as a sort of middle or early finish. Faintest hint of chocolate in it too. Finish is pot still spice laying over top the lingering oak tannins and a little bit of vanilla. This is really tasty and I've really enjoyed this bottle. (I opened it on inauguration day figuring an Irish whiskey finished in California wine barrels was somehow fitting for the new administration.) But I don't think I'd pick this over the regular Green Spot again. The fresh green apple in that bottle is just super interesting and appealing to me, and that bottle costs $30-40 less. If they were priced the same, I might switch back and forth, but this is just not quite worth the significant upcharge. Value aside, this is a really nice Irish single pot still whiskey with a red wine twist that works and is interesting - the wine barrels are not just a gimmick. Certainly worth trying if you dig red wine and Irish whiskey.

This is Batch 002. 58.7% (117.4 proof). N: Orchard fruit and effervescent cola. Red apple and caramel. Sweet, stewed and caramelized pears in a bread pudding with a dash of cinnamon. Vanilla custard at the edges of the glass. Ethanol scent is faint, but the feeling of it gets overwhelming pretty quick. P: Sweet and fruity (orchard, like the nose) early, giving way to a soft milk chocolate that builds over time. Occasional intense flashes of ripe cherry. Medicinal ethanol. Little bit of charred oak with light-medium tannins. The bread pudding comes back, but without the pears - more of a just basic caramel swirl now. Chocolate and wood carry through the finish with a nice woodsy spice joining. Spice is not quite a hot cinnamon, but something near that range and quite pleasant - lingering without overpowering. It fits the dram. This just doesn't evoke any particularly strong feelings or reactions for me. It's fine. It's probably overpriced, but otherwise drinkable. I kept feeling, while going through the bottle, like there should be more here, but it just never opened up. Adding water, adding ice, trying it neat - nothing changed it. (Actually, it's kind tough to drink neat. Too much ethanol.) Probably pass this batch, wait for the next. Or grab 001 if you can. Side note: gorgeous bottle. The simplicity of the raised letter writing on the glass, the small label, the shape, the color of the whisky, plus the wax seal - I wanted to leave it on my shelf unopened indefinitely. But, you know, whisky... This is probably my second favorite bottle design, behind only the Hibiki.

N: Delicate, fragrant peat smoke. It's the first note, but far from overpowering. Wet earth, dried cherries, orchard fruit. A fleeting and elusive sea spray may be there, may not. Caramel, butterscotch, lemon cookies. It's not sea spray, it's seaweed - just hit me. Fireplace embers, hint of tobacco, roasted duck fat. P: Big mouthfeel - rich and oily. Brown sugar and bacon. Dried dark red fruit. Cinnamon sprinkled on vanilla cream. Butterscotch. Lots of oak. Little bit of something vegetal, like a chili pepper—feels like a product of some interplay between the peat (veggie) and the wood (spice), rather than that bell pepper taste that sometimes pops up in whiskies (or more often wine). Also a little bit of earth and dirt. Finish is spicy, but on the short side. Wood, tannins, and mild lingering smoke mingle with an also mild cinnamon spice. And then it just fades away... This is a remarkably mild-mannered, well-behaved monster. I made the mistake of opening this later on the same night, for comparison sake, that I opened a Lagavulin 16. I could hardly even tell this was peated in comparison. But, after separating the two over the past month, this has grown into its own place. It has an excellent nose with a subtle, recurring fruitiness that is quite pleasant. But it takes work to get it. Many of the scents I list above I did not pick up until I really sat down and thought about this dram for the sake of this review. It is not an obvious whisky. The palate is less complicated and the finish is maybe slightly below expectations, but none of it is bad. Rather than try to compare it unfavorably to a long list of peatier whiskies (especially single malts), which really isn't fair based on a marketing decision (the name of the whisky), I'll just say I think this is more complex, subtle, and even interesting than Compass Box's own Glasgow Blend, and I think that's really what the target was. But, ignoring the all malt vs. grain/malt blends question, the Glasgow Blend offers more peat, plenty of complexity, and a better price. I expect the Glasgow will be in my regular rotation. The Peat Monster will not. I would pick this up again, but it'll probably be a while.

N: Earthy Ardbeg peat smoke, as one would expect. It's such that I have to wonder if aging (or lack thereof, in this case) has any effect on that particular note. Moving on... Green apples, rich soil, ripe cherries, grilled beef, smoked and grilled pineapple, chalk, boiled and salted vegetables, stone fruits... It comes back a little different each time, tending to alternate between sweet/fruity and savory/smoky. P: Smoked chocolate, rich vanilla cream, coffee. Sweet with a sticky bread malt thing going on. Dark red fruit is there, but fairly deep in the background. Salty with a touch of bitterness. Rich, heavy, oily mouthfeel. Finish is a bit unassuming with some oak tannin and maybe a hint of cinnamon, but it builds after a few sips to a lingering spicy burn that gets fairly intense. Milk chocolate hangs in and adds character and depth to the spice. Look, there's nothing wrong with this whisky. It's quite good, actually. But it's an Ardbeg, and that carries certain expectations. It's got to be incredibly difficult for a firm like Ardbeg to create a new entry level - how do you keep your reputation while offering a product at a cheaper price than anything else already in your lineup? How do you cut cost without cutting quality and damaging the brand? Exceptionally difficult questions to answer well. Whoever makes those decisions for Ardbeg has chosen to favor quality over cost, which I think no one can exactly fault them for. But I'll try - $15 less than the Uigeadail, for example, doesn't sway me. That is a better, more complex dram and the price difference is not enough to push me down to this Wee Beastie. Ardbeg has hit the mark on quality, but not cost. If this was a $30 bottle, you wouldn't be able to find it anywhere. But it's a $50 bottle. It might be a little better than the average $50 bottle, but not better than the $55 and $65 bottles under the Ardbeg brand. So it's hard to understand what the target market is for this dram. I can't imagine buying it again because I will almost always spend the extra couple of bucks to upgrade. Maybe it gets a relatively steep discount in a couple years... One can hope. Business and pricing aside, this is quite tasty and worth trying at least once. It's bright and lively, but still a beast in the Ardbeg tradition. There's not an off note in it - perfectly executed.

N: Citrus and pine needles, then some black licorice that feels like the best part of a cheap bourbon. There's honey and white tea. Also a hint of a black tea brewed in mineral heavy water. Biscuit and cereal grains. And a fleeting whiff of cigarette smoke at the end. P: Butterscotch, caramel, and red fruit all mingle together and fill your mouth with rich, oily flavor. Vanilla joins on the exhale. There's a heady maltiness that runs through the course of the palate, start to finish. It's as if all the flavors were served on a thick slice of whole grain bread. Most of the notes from the nose make a brief appearance slightly after the opening medley: pine needles, black licorice, white and black tea, and smoke - although the palate smoke is a more traditional peat smoke, rich and fragrant. There's also lychee, honey, lemon, and fresh herbs. A light milk chocolate orange precedes the finish, which is a black pepper medium spicy, well balanced against a little bittering wood tannin, and then wrapped up with a lingering dark chocolate that hangs on for a good long time. This whisky, especially the nose, reminds me of a big, mean IPA circa 2005, way before they went all juicy. There was an earthy brutality in those beers - they were great, but you had to really want them. This dram has that same raw element, but it adds several layers of flavor above that and arrives at something much more elegant and elevated. While recognizing the craft in it, I still think it drinks a little young, rough, and brutal. I'm not actually sure if I mean that as a compliment or a critique. Really, I think I mean that as a statement about the 17 year and 21 year Hibikis that are not particularly attainable - I expect they are actually quite a bit better than this, and that is saying something, because this is pretty damn good.

N: Juicy ripe cherries early, gives way to a distinct pecan pie scent. Then the fruits come back dried with a little plum and maybe some red grape. It's a single malt, but something about it reminds me of corn - thinking maybe it's the American side of the wood that's tricking my nose a bit (or I've mistaken wood scents for corn for a long time - meh, possible). Bit of a lemon custard develops late. There's a nice roundness to the scent - it feels whole and finished, which is nice at this price point. P: Dense, woody, and rich. Dried red fruit and the pecan nuttiness hit first, but it's not the pie this time - lacks the sweetness and crust - just the nuts. After that, there's a quick hit of coffee and then bitter wood tannins, but never too overwhelming. Hanging on a bit longer gets some chocolate and wood char just before a finishing burn. Finish is hot cinnamon and capsaicin and builds just to the edge of being too much, but doesn't quite cross the line. Nicely done, actually. Lingering bitterness from the tannins numbs the heat some. Lots going on here. Extremely well made. Excellent value. It still feels a bit young and green, but the nose is well developed and seems to have a little Texas character to it with the pecan pie (I spent 11 years in Texas and have never had pecan pie anywhere else, but forgive me if that's less Texas and more just South in general - I'm not 100% certain). The palate feels like it sometimes jumps around a bit awkwardly or clumsily, but it always has somewhere to jump to. It's an interesting and excellent pick at the price.

N: Floral, herbal, medicinal, maybe slightly vegetal. Faintly, but very noticeably smoky. It's like if you lit a flower and herb garden on fire, doused it with sea water, and then took a good whiff while everything was still wet. Little bit of mint in the nose too. On the sea water, there's a distinct maritime scent in it that's not quite sea spray. Really, it's reminiscent of taking a walk on a dock and getting that combination of salty, fishy, boaty scents. And getting just the right amount of it too. There's also fruit: peach, pear, maybe some white grape. Lemon even? There is no red fruit here, and that absence seems to give this a fresh and cold feeling. I really like it. P: Herbal and floral, with white tea, honey, dash of mint. All of it has that maritime character, which the smoke now blends into, and gives everything this wonderful salty, smoky character. Nutty with some chocolate that hits mid-palate. Spicy finish begins at the sides of the tongue - mostly cinnamon, but can move up to hot cinnamon, and occasionally even chili pepper (which plays well with the herbal, vegetal nature of this). Slightly tannic finish with some puckering in the cheeks. Later, you get a little lingering green apple. Very interesting. This is fantastic. I love that it just picks an angle and hammers it home. A less bold whisk(e)y might have tried to build in more traditional caramel and vanilla flavors, seeking to appeal to more people. This just says "I am a burned herb garden, doused with sea water - come and get it." That works for me, I guess. I think this is the best of the JW line. It's also priced really well for what it offers - that helps a lot. I expect this will be one I just keep on hand at all times.