I'd read a number of reviews of Ardbeg Uidgeadail ranging all over the spectrum from love to hate to "not as good as it used to be", so I decided to purchase a bottle for myself on New Years Eve. Batch code L62399 26/06/2015 15006073 0??46 (two chars unreadable)
The nose offers sugar and alcohol and a hint of peat smoke.
On taking a sip, my first impression is an overwhelming flood of sugar, salt, and seaweed, followed by lots of peat smoke and tar, and then some alcohol.
The aftertaste is a long finish of sherry and peat smoke and roofing tar. LOTS of lingering peat smoke and roofing tar.
And that was without any watering down! At 54.2ABV, I'm shocked at the smoothness, drinkability, and lack of alcohol burn. The ethanol taste and smell is almost completely suppressed by the other compounds in this heady brew. Watering this down at all would be like emasculating a tiger; I prefer to let it maul me; what a unique and fascinating experience.
I'm afraid my review disagrees with all the "love it" and "hate it" reviews. I like it; it's unique, powerful, smokey, tarry, definitely something to blast through your complacency with its assault on your senses. It's not my favorite Islay, though; that would be Laphroaig
10yo. But I have to say that Ardbeg Uidgeadail has immediately become *one of* my favorite single malt scotch whiskeys. Something to sip when I want to wake up my senses with something powerful.