Ardbeg Uigeadail

Appearance becomes a bit cloudy with water, almost like an unfiltered Hefeweizen. Drinking it out of a snifter makes for a very different (better) experience, than drinking from a standard scotch glass.

• From scotch glass, splash of water: Nose-21: light and misleading, leather, black pepper, apricot jam Palate-23: fruit, old wooden trunk, cold dry soil, peat, smoke, cooked brown sugar Finish-24: Complex, two-tiered, light smoke, and syrup, then heavy peat, and (mesquite?) wood Balance-22: the complexity of this scotch may be outside of my pay grade, but it certainly took me for an enjoyable ride Overall-90

• From snifter, larger than average splash of water Nose-23: Potent, nostril-clearing, cedar, mint, iodine, light-peach? Palate-21: Heavy pronounced Peat, honey, sweet marzipan, sassafras root syrup, table salt Finish-24: light smoke and peat, then a pause in flavor before a wave of heavy smoke that tingles on the tongue rolls through Balance-23: dramatic changes from one flavor to the next, imposing, but never unpleasant. Overall 91

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