As much as I love Ardbeg, I have never spent much time appreciating the 10, let alone buying a bottle. My introduction to the distillery, and enduring focus, was Uigeadail and the subsequent scramble for the annual committee releases meant my liquor cabinet was never short of an Ardbeg bottle or three to choose from. But my ignorance of the charms of the entry level spirit is an embarrassing oversight. It’s the perfect combination of smoky, sweet and oily and I would gladly take four bottles of this over one of Drum, as interesting as that was. Indeed, if I could liquidate my whisky collection and start again, I would buy several bottles of this and other similarly priced classics, a handful of really fantastic expensive stuff and far fewer of the mid-priced limited editions which linger half empty long after the novelty has worn off. But I digress. This is a great whisky and everybody should drink it.