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Dram of the week - Ardbeg Uigeadail

My dram of the week is the Ardbeg Uigeadail.
Dram of the week - Ardbeg Uigeadail
Photo by Mark Spurgeon on Unsplash

Ardbeg Uigeadail is my dram of the week. It was also the featured whisky at my New Year’s Eve party, a perfect way to welcome the New Year.

I love this whisky. It was a special gift to me, and it is easily my best Islay malt.

Ardbeg Uigeadail comes from the renowned Ardbeg distillery. Situated in the Islay town of Port Ellen, Ardbeg is renowned for producing the most peated malts out of all the distilleries on Islay. And, given that Islay is itself the home of peated malts, that should tell you a lot about the smokiness of Ardbeg’s own whiskies. Uigeadail is certainly the smokiest malt in my collection of Islay malts.

The Ardbeg distillery has been around a long time. It was founded in 1815, and, apart from two brief periods when it was closed, it has been in operation since then.

Uigeadail was released in 2003. It is named after the Loch Uigeadail, the Ardbeg distillery’s water source. Ardbeg tells us that Uigeadail is Gaelic for "a dark, mysterious place".

Indeed the Uigeadail is a truly special whisky. And it’s not just me who thinks that. In 2009, it won the World Whisky of the Year award.

So what do I like about Uigeadail? In particular, I’m a big fan of its rich mix of smoky and sweet - a result of having been matured in bourbon barrels and sherry butts. There is also a hint of spice - almost totally unexpected, no matter how many times I drink the Uigedail. At 54.2% ABV, the alcohol content is a bit higher than I would normally choose, but it is still a great dram.

Ardbeg is itself an amazing distillery. Next to producing fine whiskies, it does some pretty innovative stuff. For example, there was the Ardbeg space experiment in 2011, when it sent a vial of unmatured malt whisky into space. The idea was to check whether the near-zero gravity would have any effect on the flavour of the whisky. The whisky was fired into space from a rocket in Kazakhstan, and was sent back to earth after a few years in space. (And, indeed, the near-zero gravity did make a difference - not just in taste, but also in aroma.)

Of course, my own Uigeadail has never been anywhere near space. But it’s a wonderful whisky, and one of Islay’s best.