Ardbeg 5yo Wee Beastie
O.B. Islay Single Malt | 47.4% ABV
I don’t consider myself a “peathead”
Peatheads; those fellow drammers who just go for peat, heavy peat, and nothing but the peat. Those for whom the more peat, the better. Those for whom nothing less than smoke wrapped in ash, wrapped in charcoal and all cooked over a beach bonfire will do.
You’ll more likely find me sitting just a bit downwind of the bonfire, catching the aromas and flavours from there rather than sitting in front of the fire happily engulfed in smoke. A few years now into my whisky journey in a serious way, I do like the peaty stuff, but I also like rotating between vastly different styles of drams depending on my mood, what my last dram was, and what bottles are in my current rotation. The fact I have more unpeated whiskies in my collection than peated, not by design but simply by accumulative accident, probably says something.
That said, I love Ardbeg. I’ve only ever had the core range, but… damn what a core range. We all know the core range is great - perhaps it’s a bit tired to repeat. But given various recent grumblings around offerings outside of the distillery staples, it just drives home the point again about the glory of the core range. Every time I’ve had a bottle of Ardbeg it tends to disappear noticeably quicker than other bottles. I’ve unfortunately had the bad luck of buying bottles with leaks … I keep meaning to contact the distillery to let them know.
Like many of us, my first encounter with the distillery was the Ardbeg 10 and as soon as that was done (rather too quickly, because of a leak) it quickly sent me on a journey to try another, then another. Next was the Corryvreckan, which I enjoyed almost as much as the 10. But then came my discovery of Ardbeg Uigeadail, and along with it my discovery of what peat and sherry can do together. It was simply wonderful: full-on, in-your-face flavour but with some of the young edges rounded out and layers of depth added by the ex-sherry casks used. I’ve heard the stories about older Uigeadail from the mid-2000s and how great they were, and that the currently incarnation is but a shadow of its former self. But, never having tried those early releases, I can only vouch for the current offerings and to my palate, it’s outstanding. I can only raise a dram and heartily concur with Hamish’s conclusions on this expression.
As you can tell, I’m approaching Ardbeg’s Wee Beastie today as a fan of Ardbeg, but not as an Ardbeg fanatic.I’m not a card-carrying member of the Ardbeg Committee. I would like to try more Ardbeg outside the core range, but for me at least, that’s simply not possible right now. It would be nice to pick up a different expression through auction at something like an affordable price, but this isn’t happening anytime soon either. I don’t mean stuff in the stratosphere such as the 19 or 25 year olds. I accept these are far out of the reach but perhaps to try one of the many special releases without age statements. Perhaps not. Again, out of reach.
While pointlessly perusing auction prices on one browser tab, I click over to other tabs where I read and watch with interest some of the recent discussion in the whisky-verse around Ardbeg. Groans that special releases are often too similar and not worth the RRP, marketing-driven expressions instead of flavour and experience-driven expressions, and speculation about possible cynical cask management during the current boom with the knowledge that anything with the Ardbeg name will sell in today’s manic whisky climate.
I don’t downplay these complaints, but I just have few reference points from which to judge them as I haven’t tried enough. Although I can’t get my hands on anything outside the core range, as long as that remains this good and affordable, I’ll always have a bottle of Ardbeg on the shelf. It’s one of my favourite go-to drams for that stunningly unique smoky, briny, beach bonfire and meat-drippings experience that I don’t get in the same way from any other distillery. I watch the discussion about the distillery with interest and some concern of what might be happening with one of our most distinctive malts. But ultimately, I’m just a man sitting here with a dram, and I’m reminded by my fellow Dramface writers that there’s always more whisky out there.
I’m content for now reaching for the core range when I want that Ardbeg style. When, from my little corner of Scotland, I sit outside on these cool autumn days with a dram in hand and look towards the west, the peat fires of Ardbeg continue to glow warmly and invitingly on the south coast of Islay.
Review
Ardbeg Wee Beastie, 5yo, Official Bottling, 47.4% ABV
£35-40 and generally available
Nose
Smoke and coastal ash. Smokey peat but also some vegetal peat. Spirit-forward and young for sure, but it also smells like a few older casks may be in the mix here. A coastal, smouldering tar quality.
Palate
Bright and young with smoke and coastal ash again. It doesn’t really taste more than its 47.4%, but the spirity quality on the nose carries through to the palate. Some hints of bright fruits and some prominent – but balanced with the other notes – greasy meat-drippings alongside hot treacle-tar.
The Dregs
First released in 2020, the Wee Beastie is non-chill filtered, but the bottle makes no mention of colour. I had to visit the distillery’s website for info on cask makeup, where they do say it’s a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks. It doesn’t say the proportions, but to my palate there’s a lot more bourbon casks at work here.
The Wee Beastie is viewed by some as a marketing effort rather than flavour experience. In terms of pure peat hit, some felt it wasn’t the “beastie” it was promoted as. That’s certainly fair enough. Yet, there’s still a lot of interesting flavour here. I can pick this up on offer for £35, but the RRP of £40 feels a bit high given the 10 is not all that much more and well worth the extra few quid. Early speculation the Wee Beastie’s pricing bode ill for the 10’s continued affordability haven’t yet come to pass. Let’s hope this situation continues to hold. And at the moment, it feels as though the positive impressions of confidence that Ardbeg demonstrated by boldly slapping a 5-year age statement on the bottle have been somewhat muted by the recent questions around the distillery’s direction.
I realise that some of my fellow Dramface writers might disagree with my score, but that’s fine. Of all the insights and wisdom I’ve learned from them so far (and it’s been a lot), one thing has been that all our palates are different, and being at a different point in your journey compared to others doesn’t mean that my palate is wrong and others are right. I like what I like. This is young and spirity – no doubt about it. The flavours aren’t as developed, deep, or integrated as in other Ardbeg expressions. And yet, there is indeed plenty of flavour here, even if it’s far from the most complex Ardbeg. It’s a different beast (cue eye roll) than the 10. And, if presented with a choice of a desert island dram of the two, I’d probably go with the 10 almost every time.
I’ll confess that I’ve not yet tried the Ardbeg 8 year old For Discussion but I would love to see a comparison of this and the Wee Beastie. But I’m enjoying the Wee Beastie precisely because it’s a different variation of the Ardbeg spirit. It’s more raw, but that rawness shows me something about the whisky that I don’t quite get from the 10, the Uigeadail, Corryvrecken or the An Oa. It’s more alive and kicking, rather than being deeper and rounded off. While it’s not my favourite bottle from the distillery, I find myself coming back to it regularly. I’ll keep pondering my bad luck in buying leaky bottles and I’ll keep sipping this dram alongside other Ardbeg core expressions, continuing to follow the conversation on the distillery’s ups and downs, while watching the glow on the western horizon.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DD
Other opinions on this:
Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.