Ardbeg Wee Beastie

An untamed young single malt from Ardbeg, Wee Beastie has spent five years in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before being unleashed. Fresh, herbal aromas of pear, cracked black pepper, pine needles, vanilla and honey-glazed ham mingle on the nose with aniseed, green apple, leather and coffee. The palate offers notes of dark chocolate, hot tar, smoked bacon, aniseed and eucalyptus that liner in the finish.

NOSE

Crunchy barley sugar, sharp apples, cracked stones and lashings of smoke. Damp seaweed, rock pools and mossy stones stick out from behind the smoke, followed by tarry ropes, burning pine needles, singed lemon peel and barbecued apples.

PALATE

Crisp apples, ash and a big hit of damp peat smoke to start. Gravel and burnt logs develop along with sea-spray brininess. The dryness disappears under a wave of lemon and apples, before reasserting itself with a shovel of driveway gravel and ash.

FINISH

Fresh leather, creosoted fences and piles of lemon peel.

COMMENT

An unashamedly brash and youthful Ardbeg, tempering the raw character of the new-make spirit with just enough oak influence without losing any punch. Elemental stuff.