Uigeadail or Springbank 12 CS

Which would I choose, my mother's pecan pie, or he apple pie?

I like both Uigeadail and Springbank 12 CS. I would not want to choose. I drink slowly enough that I can have both open in my cabinet for long stretches.

@Nozinan I totally agree haha, I like the pie reference! I'm getting the octomore 7.3 so my wife said only 2 bottles, so this the conundrum! I guess it's a good dilemma to have!

@rmunson32 Which of the two will still be available in a few months when you'll be able to buy your next bottle? In my neck of the wood the Uigie is fairly easy to get, but the Springbank 12 CS is available only for a few weeks each year.

@rmunson32, you will like some batches of Uigeadail better than others and you will like some batches of Springback 12 CS better than others. There is no way to know with high confidence in advance what you will think of any given bottle unless you taste from that exact batch. But, you know what, tasting from the exact batch does not also rule out an outlier bottle of a different quality. @Nock and I have tasted from his and my bottles of Aberlour A'bunadh Batch # 45 and they could have been from completely different batches. We both evaluated each of them with almost exactly the same scores, and one worth around 92 points, and the other around 82 points, at most. So you really never know for certain in advance what you will get.

The bias around here usually, and certainly for me, is "Get them both.". That doesn't answer your either/or question.

If I were making the choice, I would make it one of two ways: 1) Springbank 12 CS is much harder to find in this area in which both you and I live, so that might be plenty of reason to get that one first, or 2) Uigeadail is for me, and for many others, a "must have in stock" whisky. N.B. my now 6 1/2 years ago posted review which started the Connosr conversation on the difference in batchs of the "same" whisky" A Tale of Two Uigeadails, connosr.com/ardbeg-uigeadail-whisky-review… described one of the two Uigeadails, # 2 as much inferior to the other. While this was very true, it is also true that Bottle # 2 improved greatly in drinkability with 6 to 12 months of air exposure. This open-bottle improvement of lesser batches of Ardbeg is something I have seen with a not-so-great batch of Ardbeg Ten also. All of this is to say that I think that it is possible to go wrong with Uigeadail, but it doesn't happen very often, and even then, air time may greatly improve the quality of the bottle.

Bottom line, as I understand your mindset, I would say, buy the Springbank 12 CS first, and then shop for a well-reviewed batch of Uigeadail. That's not what I would do, but I think that that will suit your tastes.

...and, your new Octomore may satisfy your ultra-peaty cravings until you later get your bottle of Uigeadail.

@Robert99 @Victor thanks so much for the quick and thorough responses!!! I may let my wife decide. I have her to thank for introducing me to lagavulin. Who knows maybe she will capitulate to both!

Get two bottle of Octomore 7.3...no seriously! Oh alright, I'll answer the actual question
Springbank 12 if only that it's a different profile than a lot of other whiskies. Oogy's always around and would be pretty easy to pick-up later on.

Springbank 12 CS.

It's more distinctive, like @cricklewood says.

It's apparently less reliably available by you, as @Victor says.

And it's also drastically different from the other bottle you're picking up—that Octomore—as @Victor (again) says.

And let us know what you think!

@MadSingleMalt @cricklewood thanks!!! SB 12 has my attention, and I think will win the day. I enjoyed the Uigeadail when I had it. I kind of like the idea of potentially being fortunate and getting a never ending superfluous batch of the Oogy.

@rmunson32 Definitely get the Uigeadail.... just kidding. I agree with the others...