Wee Beastie comes from the skunkworks of Ardbeg in the form of an inexpensive, 5-year peat bomb designed to give drinkers a youthful expression to experience.
The growing heat in the finish was a nice change from some of the hard hitters I’ve recently had. The proof sits in a nice spot, and with the price, this is pretty hard to beat if you are looking for a smokey, Islay single malt.
I’m not disappointed at all. Sure they could have named it ‘For the Bar in the Little House on the Prairie’ instead, for it’s rather gentle, but there, well done, it’s one of my favourite recent official ‘begs.
It’s a bold experiment, but it works… and it will be interesting to see if other distillers start looking at their younger spirits and following Ardbeg’s example by putting the age statement right on the bottle.
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House Review
Nose:
Toasty and toasty - sesame seeds, toast, rising bread, pepper and sweet cream. Extremely peat forward.
Taste:
Sweet and creamy - lots of toffee, caramel, some peat smoke and vanilla bean. It’s dessert and peat combined, and the youthful brashness lends some great complexity here.
Finish:
Short, brash finish. Toffee, lemon zest, pepper and peat rock on.
Overall:
Extremely promising for a young dram like this - the peat is raw and aggressive and the zesty sweetness balances well.
Score:
85
By t8ke
Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources
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