Ardbeg Uigeadail

Sample graciously provided by @Victor from a bottle opened that day.

Nose: Very dry. Deep and rich peat smoke with tons of high sparkly bits going on. This is amazing. The fruit is very much in the background here. Much more smoked meats. The harmony between the peat and fruit errs much more on the peat side (which I like). The fruit is light stuff like pears and smoked peaches. Amazing intensity! More intense then any other batch this night. This is very alcohol-y in a way I love! Tons of high notes: sherry, peat, asphalt, and some diesel oil. This is the polar opposite of the L7 325. This is a bright rich high soprano with tons of power and volume. There is this wonderful soot and that asphalt smell I associate with classic Ardbeg. Now lemon citrus and bright cherries come in. Truly fantastic. Takes water very well. It brings out the light fruit tones of green grapes, pears, and green apples.

Taste: Sweet in a sugar-in-the-raw kind of way. Lovely on the mouth – silky and smooth. Tastes amazing. Super high sweet peat notes. Fire. Nothing off. Highest sweet tones of the night (but not the sweetest), and the second most intense (after the L11 028 by a nose).

Finish: Huge Ardbeg intake of breath . . . seems to last forever . . . now comes the tidal wave. It is a low cresting wave over your body. Wonderful peat, pine sap resin, caramelized sugar, mint, . . . amazing. If the 028 tasted like the color purple then this is the color yellow. Now, some maritime notes of salt, seaweed, and fish emerge. Wonderful: simply amazing.

Complexity, Balance: I might say one of the less complex of the night, but the most Ardbeggy of the bunch. Most of the complexity is found on the finish (Some bits on the nose; very little on the mouth). The balance is wonderfully Ardbeggy in its intensity. However, it doesn’t have the balance of the L7.

Aesthetic experience: Very light compared to the L7 325 or the L11 028. Perhaps a lower proportion of sherry matured casks. This is one of the lightest of the bunch; about even with L11 284

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