Tonight I will be tasting and reviewing the Ardbeg Uigeadail whiskey from the Ardbeg distillery on Islay.
Islay is a 600km² island of the westcoast of Scotland, which boasts 7 active distilleries, and 2 more which are being built at this moment.
I recently had the privilige of travelling to this island and enjoying all facets of it (besides whiskey, they have great walking, a restfull atmosphere, friendly people and good food.)
The first distillery I visited was the Ardbeg distillery, and the Uigeadail was the second whiskey I tasted there. I remember that it struck home. This was a gorgeous whiskey. The tour which I had booked included 6 whiskies, and the guy who poured the shots wasn't stingy with them so that after the 6th one, I only remembered that I really really liked the Uigeadail, but I couldn't explain why anymore.
I brought home another bottle from this distillery, which I will review later (the limited edition Committee bottling Kelpie), but I kept on thinking about this one.
I knew a store where you can buy almost all liquor per shot. They pour it in a bottle, and you can take it home. By chance I was near that store today, so I went and bought a shot of Uigeadail, which I am now tasting.
This is a cask strength whiskey, which comes in at 54,2% ABV. this is fairly high, which means that this whisky will pack some punch. On Islay, I was taught that it is best to quickly blow in your glass (similar to spitting, but without any saliva) in order to remove the alcohol vapour, which will allow you to catch the aroma's better.
Colour will tell you nothing about a whiskey. Many people believe that a darker whiskey means that it has been longer on the barrel, or that a darker whiskey signifies that the barrel has been charred more severely, but you can't tell. The reason is that distillers are allowed to add caramel colourings. A dark whiskey might well be a light whiskey with colouring.
AROMA
Next I will describe for you the aroma.
For this purpose, I use a flavour wheel. I would have pasted it in here, but it's not free to use. I will therefore paste the link to the site where it can be found. I use the second full wheel from the site, being the AGROSCOPE version.
http://malt-review.com/2015/09/10/whisky-flavour-wheels-and-colour-charts/
In the nose, you discover smoke, peat, and leather with hints of spice further at the back.
FLAVOUR
The flavour is peaty, as you would expect from an Islay whiskey. This one comes in at 60ppm phenol. Besides this, there is a definite saltiness and a crisp freshness which you wouldn't expect from a whisky. A single sip of this whiskey would be a refreshing experience on a hot day.
AFTERTASTE
The aftertaste lingers for a long time, and the 54%ABV will leave your tongue tingling. Despite that, it is not harsh or burning or whatever. You wouldn't think it is 54% if you wouldn't know it.
The initial aftertaste is one of woodsmoke (agreeable woodsmoke, which makes you think of great barbeques with friends) this later on gives way to hints of caramel and something remeniscent of honey.
Having retasted this whiskey, I must say, I fully comprehend again why I loved this whiskey when I tasted it at the Ardbeg distillery 2 months ago.
NAMESAKE AND HISTORY
The name Uigeadail, is the name of the nearby loch from where the Ardbeg distillery sources it's water for the distillery.
The distillery has been in operation for a long time, but has also declined over the ages. This decline eventually led to it being mothballed, and slated for destruction. Only very shortly before deconstruction was to begin did Glenmorangie come in and buy Ardbeg. They did the necessary investments to get the distillery going once again. Later on Glenmorangie was bought up by the luxury goods group LVMH.
The name of the distillery means "headland" and this was the name of the small outsticking piece of land which was used as a docking site for shipping out the whiskey in the old days.
slàinte