Boring, meek, shallow, average, foul – these are all antonyms to the words that would best describe Ardbeg’s outstanding Uigeadail expression, which sits before me as I write this very review, smothering me with its luxurious peaty smoke. This isn’t the first Ardbeg review I’ve written (keen readers may remember by previous brown-nose reviews of Blasda, Renaissance and 10yr old and once again I am going to end up sounding like a complete fanboy, which I suppose that I am.
When it comes to American whiskey I’ve generally got nothing against a modern looking bottle, I even quite like a bit of innovation. Put a modern looking bottle of Scottish whisky in front of me, however, and I’m bound to put my nose up. I don’t know why that is, really, though as a marketing scholar I guess it may have a little something-something to do with my associations with the respective countries. I see Scotland as traditional and whisky as quintessentially Scottish, and as such I prefer a traditional, old-time design.
Bruichladdich Peat was rolled out as a replacement for the ‘3d’ series (check out my review of the 3d3 Norrie Campbell, where I also wrote a bit about the distillery) and is, in true Islay style, quite heavily peated and smoky. However, the aim for the ‘peat’ expression was to produce a heavily peated whisky without the medicinal notes that tend to accompany such expressions. I personally found the prospect of such a whisky quite intriguing and even exciting, so the question is – did they succeed?
Sound of the Islay; Caol Ila. With the phenomenal capacity to produce up to 3 million litres of fine whisky per year, Caol Ila is the largest distillery on the island that makes up the Islay distillery region. Not bad, aye? While they’ve got a lot of expressions on the market, the one I’m going to take a look at today is, in fact, the only one they had at my local pub upon my last visit(shameful!); the 1991, 16 year old.
Founded in 1816, the Islay distillery Lagavulin (which means “Mill in the Valley”) is one of the older boys on the block. It may in fact be that the distillery has been around for longer yet, as records are said to show that illicit distilling took place as early as 1742. Either way, their experiences shines through clearly in their 16 year old expression. Islayinfo.com have published an interesting article, apparently written by Alfred Barnard in the late 1800s, you can read it here.
Today’s review is of another Japanese whisky (I’ve previously reviewed Suntory Yamazaki). Established in 1779 on an island well known of its whisky production, it is one of the oldest distilleries on that island and indeed the country to which it belongs. I’m being cryptic on purpose here, of course; any guesses as to which distillery, or island, I’m talking about? Five points if you get it right – the distillery in question is Bowmore, and the island Islay – Bowmore is owned by the Japanese company Suntory, but fear not; the whisky is still as Scottish as can be.
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