Whisky Connosr
Menu
Buy Whisky Online

Ardbeg Uigeadail

An Oogy from 2005

0 393

@MaltActivistReview by @MaltActivist

17th Jan 2016

0

Ardbeg Uigeadail
  • Nose
    24
  • Taste
    23
  • Finish
    23
  • Balance
    23
  • Overall
    93

Show rating data charts

Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

It's been a while since my last review. And to be completely honest I wasn't feeling up to it. Don't know why. Just being plain lazy, I suppose. I would sit down with something and then decide to just drink it for the pure enjoyment of it. No notes, nothing.

So it needed something special to get me off my lazy ass and put pen to paper. And so I naturally went back to the whisky that gave me my first moment.

For me it was the Ardbeg Uigeadail.

I don't even know what year bottling it was. I just remember closing my eyes and savoring the moment. But in order for me to get back to writing it had to be a special Uigeadail. And so I rummaged in my closet for my Peat Pack which, along with the 10, 17 & 1981 Kildalton, had a 2005 bottling of said Oogy.

I knew that the earlier Oogies were far more delicious than what we've been tasting of late. Just how good I had no idea.

My sample is from the 5cl mini which is part of the Peat Pack collection with the bottle code . This makes it bottled towards the end of 2005 and at a strength of 54.2%

Beautiful. Smoke. Iodine. Salt. Fresh oysters. Eucalyptus. Balanced peat. Vanilla. Dark chocolate. Hint of freshly shaved grass. Citrus. Orange marmalade. Touch of black pepper. So robust. Just perfect. Hard to find a nose more balanced or captivating as this. 24/25

Just the loveliest mouthfeel one can imagine. Oak. Cinnamon. That orange marmalade again. Black salt. Black peppercorns. Bitter chocolate. A little char. Soot. Singed kippers. Just a lovely juxtaposition of sweet and salty. 23/25

So long. Peat. Smoke. Slightly drying. Cinnamon. Oak. 23/25

This is what Ardbeg tasted like back when they had re-opened and were releasing new whiskies into the market. Even though it was NAS no one really cared to bring that up. Probably because they were, and still are, priced quite decently and just a lovely whisky to hold in your mouth. This is just the right dram to get you back into the groove of things.

Related Ardbeg reviews

3 comments

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

I tasted my first one a couple of weeks ago and it was indeed a pleasant surprise. It was the last dram of the evening at my tasting club reunion so there was probably some palate fatigue but also it had the longest opportunity to open in the glass. Very impressive and complex layers were exposed. I'm looking forward to another dram of that in a few weeks.

8 years ago 0

@MaltActivist
MaltActivist commented

@Nozinan Really liked this Oogy. Still a solid dram even today. I don't mind the minor batch variations. Makes for interesting sessions.

8 years ago 0

@jack09
jack09 commented

Nice review. This will be one of my next purchases.

8 years ago 0