Ardbeg An Oa Whisky

It was with great fanfare that Ardbeg launched an extension to their core range – Ardbeg An Oa Islay single malt Scotch whisky. The first permanent expression to join the Ardbeg core range since Corryvreckan in 2009.

The rest of the core range include Ardbeg 10 yo and Ardbeg Uigeadail. Ardbeg and Glenmorangie is part of the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) company, and they are a great marketing company.

I was somewhat sceptical about this new release. I have been less impressed lately by the Ardbeg Day releases. Was this another premium-priced release that does not live up to the hype? In the run-up to the release of the An Oa, a rather corny video was released called ” Whisky Whispers”, about a new release coming.

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The distillery named this release after the Mull of Oa in the south-west of Islay. The Mull offers the Kildaton some protection from the worst the Atlantic storms, and it forms the most southerly point of Islay. Maturation of Ardbeg An Oa takes place in a combination of casks including PX, spicy charred virgin oak and ex-bourbon.

Then this is all married together in Dr. Bill Lumsden’s new French oak ‘gathering vat’. Ardbeg An Oa is non-chill filtered. However, the important question is, what does it taste like?

Ardbeg An Oa Islay Whisky Review

REGION: Islay

ABV: 46.6%

COLOUR: Light Gold

NOSE: Peat, creamy honey, salted liquorice with hints of cough syrup. In the middle sweet vanilla floats about mingling with bits of toasted nuts and pine needles. It’s a fascinating and glorious mix of aromas. It’s complicated, subtle and different all at once. Faint smoke lurks around.

PALATE: Ash, peat, soft honey, sweet vanilla and cinnamon sugar, hints of chocolate and toasted oak.  Faint traces of lemon pepper. The An Oa has a big mouthfeel, and it’s smooth and velvety on the palate.  Water softens the few rough edges and adds more sweetness. But I finished my first glass without water; it was so good. I had to pour a second glass just to test.

FINISH: Smoothly with a long and lingering finish that hug and comfort you like a favourite jersey. Filled with sweetness and bits of nut.

RATING: DIVINE

The Ardbeg An Oa is not the salty, TCP and strong tar pole notes of an Ardbeg Uigeadail, but a softer, more classic version of it.  To me, the Uigeadail is the sea hardened old fisherman with salt in his bones.  The An Oa is his daughter that just turned 21.

Sea weathered from living next to the sea, but more feminine and softer and filled with hopes and dreams of things that do not include the ocean and fish. But she will always come back to the fisherman’s cottage, as deep down the sea is still calling.

It is seldom that we finish a bottle. Even bottles that are easily replaceable like the Ardbeg 10 yo take a while for us to finish.  This bottle of Ardbeg An Oa is DONE – within four months of buying the bottle. If that does not translate into DIVINE, I don’t know what does!

I asked the question on Instagram Stories – Is this worth the hype, and it seems like most people agree.  The Ardbeg An Oa single malt whisky is undoubtedly worth it!

This whisky made it into my Whisky of the Year 2018.  See what happened when we blind tested all the Divine rated drams for 2018. I have also done a side by side comparison between the An Oa and the Ardbeg Uigeadail.  See which one was my favourite!

During 2020 Ardbeg released a new addition to the core range, the Ardbeg Wee Beastie 5 yo whisky.

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