Jose-Massu-Espinel
Ardbeg Wee Beastie
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
August 16, 2020 (edited December 10, 2020)
Do you realize how confident you have to be if you are a renowned distillery to actually release a 5yo whisky and use that age statement AS YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY?
Well, i bet Ardbeg is feeling pretty confident since they didn't just released it, they sold everything; and the most important part, they made a very, very good whisky.
"Wee Beastie", is Ardbeg's new expression, that represents a scottish phrase used to describe any type of beast (it might actually be a mosquito, lol). They sell it as "the monster dram", invoking the concept of how peaty drams are way more powerful when they are young; that is why most Islay drams tend to use a 10yo age statement which has been proven a good age for smokey flavors and aromas.
Bottled at 47.4%abv, pale straw color.
On the nose it is amazing. Starts with a very perfumed coffee note, with lemon and tar. Feels very maritime, creosote notes are very distinguishable. Chocolate. Floor disinfectant (so crazy), vanilla, smoked ham. Dulce de leche is somewhere there, under a pretty powerful peat layer. After the first sip it became so much sweeter, that it resembles a Smokey Vanilla milk shake (if such thing exists).
On the palate is very nice, it actually starts being very sweet, with a very clean vanilla note, but after two seconds, it explodes into this pepper bomb. It feels young but not unpleasant, very herbal like tea. Slight notes of leather.
Aftertaste is very sulphuric but really enjoyable. Smoke, salt, coal, burnt popcorn, more salt, sea water. There is also this PENCIL aftertaste note (that is right! it tastes like chewing those old wooden pencils). Very salty, very maritime, very peaty. Nice stuff.
Overall this is a well balanced, fully flavored whisky. It is rewarding, it is fun, it is interesting, and it is young and cheap. Ardbeg nailed this one, it is not an untamed beast, but it is surely a powerful dram. Loved it, 92 over 100 is my score for it. Sláinte!
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I think the 10 yr takes this
@dhsilv2 If only I could prefer bottom shelf spirits above all others, I'd have it made!
@ContemplativeFox different barely so makes sense. lucky you, the .1s are cheaper
@dhsilv2 Haha that's really funny because I've preferred both of the 1s I've tried to the 3s. Clearly we have somewhat different tastes.
@ContemplativeFox lol, I never love the. 1s but 9.3 was a master piece. they put out so many of these and always use amazing casks.
@dhsilv2 I didn't realize that the Supernova had so much peat. Definitely not a cheaper alternative to Octomore. I actually really enjoyed the 2019 Supernova, but I didn't like the 2015 all that much, but I did find the Octomore 8.3 to be a bit better (though it was also my least favorite Octomore - I much preferred the 9.1 and Ten), so take that as you will @dhsilv2 and @Jose-Massu-Espinel
@Jose-Massu-Espinel Thanks for the comparison. Sounds like the 10 is more up my alley than this is.
@dhsilv2 remeber that the 2015 supernova is the very special one, the one of the space experiment. it is a wonderful dram
@Jose-Massu-Espinel had a sample of the 8.3, blows the 2019 supernova out of the water. but never had the 2015. you have me wondering if it was better than 8.3
@runrevcollins yes! this was a great dram
@dhsilv2 it was the 8.3 i think
Great review. I thought it was better than 10 in a head to head. I really dig it.
@Jose-Massu-Espinel which octomore? There are hundereds of them at this point and they varry GREATLY in quality and profiles.
@dhsilv2 i had the 2015 Supernova and it is waaaaaay better than Octomore. at least for me
Supernova compares pretty favorably imo with octomore, but comes with a similar price point. @ContemplativeFox
@ContemplativeFox hi, the 10 is better, more rounded and less maritime. i find Ardbeg 10 to be more "meaty" and this one more "salty".
@Rick_M you know something, i am not the fondest fan of Bruichladdich nor Octomore. But it seems youthfulness helps peaty whiskies, and a good packaging shoots the price like crazy, the problem is, people pay it.
@dhsilv2 wow! i will have to try for myself, since i have read good things about the blaaack. thanks for the heads up
@ContemplativeFox - I can’t speak for others, but the thing that drew me to Octomore was the high ppm counts advertised (smokiness). They still claim the highest in the industry at 309 ppm (Octomore 8.3). That’s supposedly 7 or 8 times your typical Ardbeg or Laphroaig, so you would expect it to blow you away but it doesn’t. The Octomore releases are amazingly elegant with only moderate smokiness, most would agree. The ppm counts are measured prior to distillation and this is what is advertised. After distillation, it’s a lot closer to the other Islays mentioned. Add the pretty bottle and they seem to have no problem selling out every year at those prices
@dhsilv2 Yeah, I've noticed that and they're definitely good. I just wonder why nobody else has been able to produce a similar peat bomb because the margins seem huge.
@ContemplativeFox worth noting octomores are about 100 bucks or more cheaper if you buy from the uk and ship to the states. 130-140 to your door. And frankly they can charge what they do because they're that good.
@ContemplativeFox imo those are both significantly better than blaaack, but i am in the minority with my hate on blaaack. still I know a bunch of guys who bought and after trying instantly flipped blaaack.
@Jose-Massu-Espinel Nice tasting. How would you say this compares to the 10?
@Rick_M Yeah, I'm always baffled by octomore prices. If they're just charging that much because of the gimmick, it seems like anyone else should be able to do the same thing and the prices should stabilize. I understand that peat can be a substantial cost factor, so adding tons of it could make the costs add up, but I thought that Islay was an exception to that and peat was dirt cheap there. As the preeminent Distiller Islay Emissary, what are your thoughts on why octomore is so expensive?
@dhsilv2 Yikes. I'd been hearing good things about Blaack. Regardless of age, what a disappointment. I do find the blends in corry and uigy to be really nice though, even though I suspect you're right that they use a fair amount of quite young spirit.
"@Jose-Massu-Espinel - I find your assessments to be very accurate for the whiskeys we’ve tried in common, even though I probably won’t buy this whisky. Not only can Ardbeg get away with a 5-year age statement, but how about Bruichladdich/Octomore and charge 4x more?"
@Jose-Massu-Espinel Ardbeg won't disclose ANYTHING about the bottle, it has been asked and their response was the most polite to F yourself ever. But to me it was one of the worst bottles I've ever had, that was partially saved by some crazy good first whisky use wine casks. So I can't be sure on the age, but it drank to me like a new make and wine blend. That said plenty of highly possitive reviews of it. It however is the last special release I'm ever buying from them. I'm completely done with the brand after that bottle. That and the drum back to back just took all respect I had for my favorite isaly distillery at one point and threw it out the door.
@dhsilv2 are you sure that blaaack is that young? i have an unopened, expensive bottle, at least wee beastie was cheap
Interesting, I honestly thought the 5 year statement was to assure us this wasn't as young as their recent special releases such as Blaaaack and Drum which were likely a blend of 3-5 year old juice. This is likely now the third oldest core releases after the 19 and 10, as there's now way uggie or corry don't have younger than 5 year juice.