🛒 Potstill Vienna

Definitely more peat than smoke - reminds me on Iona which was almost peated only without smoke. Very convenient but not that special.

Quick hit review. Let's call it the 'Tiny Beastie', as this bottling became more or less obsolete with Ardbeg's release of Wee Beastie. Vegetal peat smoke, brine and vanilla characterize both nose and palate, the old theme of sweetness and peat that can't go wrong. Smoked bacon, orange zest and mild pepper fade in the medium finish. A simple and yet enjoyable dram, but if in doubt, I would always go for Wee Beastie. RATING: 3.5/5.0 stars ≙ 84 pts → ABOVE AVERAGE

As an addition to the core range thought, you can sort it well as a beginner Ardbeg.

not bad at all, but in no way to compare with the classic 10, or the Uig / Corry. it just seems to miss something, but i cannot put my finger on it. #950

I found this to be mediocre and not close to the main other 2. Nonetheless, not bad too, we have the core flavours of peat, salt, brine, pepper and ash

[October, 2017]  I call this the "little Kelpie".  Obviously, Kelpie was a test ballot on how a caucasian virgin oak Ardbeg is received by the Ardbeg community.  And as the reactions on the Kelpie were rather mixed they most probably adjusted the An Oa recipe to a more smoother and less woody (aggressive) dram by adding more standard bourbon casks and less virgin oak - what is fine. But why do they use virgin caucasian oak at all?  The reason is very simple:  Due to the long-lasting whisky boom there is a severe cask shortage at all Scottish distilleries (bourbon whisky did not grow as much as Scotch did) and even more severe at groups that do not own a bourbon distiillery in their portfolio (like LVHM).  Consequently, to mature the ever growing output scottish distilleries more and more have to use virgin oak casks too and therefore a lot of scotch whisky has become more wood-driven and bourbon-ish in their style (look at Laphroaig or Macallan, for example). Caucasian oak induces a different flavours profile into whisky than the traditional american or european oak.  It is significantly more herbal with eucalyptus and camphor notes (that I personally do not like as this reminds me of cough medicine).  In this respect it is a completely new style of whisky that you either like or not.  But to say it very clear:  Distilleries do this out of despair (as they are short of high quality casks) and not because they want to innovate...  But it is an innovation, nevertheless!  And we will see if this leads to some more interesting flavour profiles over time (once the maturation had a chance to really work over an appropriate period and not just for a few years as with the Kelpie or An Oa), especially when second and third fill caucasian casks are available. But to be honest:  This is a typical Ardbeg, for sure and it is better than other standard editions right now (good that they did the test ballot with the Kelpie).  But it is not great and rather average only (or judged by Ardbeg standards:  still below average)... PS:  I tried batch L67986 bottled 04/07/2017.

Fresh smoke, bacon cubes, but also a slight sweetness. Rather spicy in the mouth. Juniper berries, ashes, sauerkraut. Much more will not come then. Gorgeous nose. In the taste he then decreases.

The best part is the nose, the taste is confusion of abundance: PX, bourbon, new oak ... exaggerated.

Light golden colour. Oily whisky.

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2017/10/21/mnc-variety-night/ Made up from all-sorts of casks. N: Mainly vegetal custard creams and loads of stewed veg - cabbage, carrots, leeks, parsnips,.. - oh, and lemonade! T: Squidgy & foamy with vegetal peat and bin juice. F: Quickly fades before a final show of vegetal sweet ash. C: It’s pretty decent but nothing stella.Scores a B-

It's a bit the tamed version of the Ten, I did not notice so much of the sherry influence, but a good complement of the standard range, which I would pour in now and then, if I did not have hundreds of samples in front of me ;-)

Brackish Water The Ardbeg An Oa is the newest release in the core range of Ardbeg, launched in September 2017. It is named after the Mull of Oa, where you can find the American Monument (if you’ve been to Islay, you know what I mean, if not: Google is your friend). The difference with the classic Ten is significant and I do not just mean the lack of age. This one matured on a combination of 7 cask types, including virgin oak, PX sherry and 1st fill bourbon casks. Oh, the ABV is odd: 46.6%. I tried it for the first time in the Old Kiln Café at the Ardbeg distillery, but saw that no actual notes were made then. Time to rectify. The nose is surprisingly fresh and playful for an Ardbeg, with lots of vanilla and lime, ginger and cinnamon. Fanta Lemon with some mint, fresh seaweeds and some polished leather. Some smoked mussels and diesel oil. And smoke, obviously. I think it’s quite light (for an Ardbeg, mind you), but just fine all the same. The spices come first, on the palate (ginger, pepper, cardamom) – that must be the virgin oak. It is followed by black tea, sweet lemons and pink grapefruit with a hint of brown sugar. Peat, of course, but also lots of brackish water. In the finish – quite long – everything has to get out of the way for lemons and peppers. Spicier, but less round than the Ten, but still Ardbeg all the way. Probably young, but it doesn’t bother. Just under 60 EUR.

A fine addition to Ardbeg's core range, although the dryness and big spiciness on the palate might not be everybody's cup of tea.

A nice surprise. In contrast to other NAS bottlings, I actually have an idea why I would buy this one instead of the ten-year-old. It's less uncompromising, lighter, sweeter, and fruitier.

So I miss a little the difference points to the rest of the core range, a touch easier for new people probably. as the Corry, but eigtl., he is still gross ashes for absolute beginners.

Yeah fine Good young smoker, a little too dry for me.

Love the nose and thought it is a winner. Then the virgin oak and PX came through and make the dram quite unpleasant for my tongue which hits rock bottom in the finish. I still hope they'll add just a simple 8 or 10yo first fill bourbon cask strength to their core range in my lifetime.