Ardbeg Wee Beastie
Age statements are a funny thing in the whisky world. There’s one corner of the whisky community that condemns bottles with no age statement (NAS). There’s another corner that clamors for older whisky and dismisses anything under a certain age. And there’s another that disputes the notion of older=better. The truth, of course, is somewhere in the middle.
I’m not generally a fan of the idea of NAS expressions, but I also won’t immediately write off a whisky for lack of an age statement. There are plenty of excellent NAS bottles out there—Ardbeg’s core lineup includes a couple of them (Uigeadail and Corryvreckan). But there have also been quite a few high profile NAS releases of late that simply fail to live up to expectations based on price and availability, and again, Ardbeg has been responsible for several such whiskies (Blaaack and Grooves, to name a couple).
Many of us who dislike the concept of NAS whisky would love to see whisky makers simply put a young age statement on a bottle. Corryvreckan contains some eight year old whisky*? OK, slap an eight year age statement on it, I’d still buy it, it’s great whisky. But I get that many less educated consumers might be turned off by a young age statement more than they’d be turned off by no age statement at all. It’s a tough choice for many distilleries—cater to the whisky enthusiasts who demand more information about their whisky or cater to the general whisky buying public who don’t really get caught up in the details of the label.
*Note that I have no idea how old or young Corryvreckan actually is.
It does seem like the dynamic is shifting. We’re seeing more and more whisky with young age statements. Talisker released an eight year old whisky as a special release in 2018 and then again in 2020. A handful of other single malts have appeared with single digit age statements. And now, in one of the bolder moves that any distillery has made recently, Ardbeg has added a whisky with a five year old age statement to its core lineup—Wee Beastie.
It wasn’t too long ago that it would’ve been quite hard to imagine a major whisky producer releasing a core range product with an age statement well under 10 years old. For many years, the industry itself perpetuated the idea of older is better, but then the whisky boom happened and suddenly many distilleries no longer had a ready supply of older casks. This, of course, led to more and more NAS whisky releases, and producers have moved away from promoting age as the primary indicator of quality.
Nowadays, whisky consumers are far more educated than they’ve ever been before. This of course is largely due to the internet, but also due to the fact that whisky has become so popular. Gone are the days when most whisky drinkers stick to one or two brands for their entire lives—modern whisky drinkers want variety. And getting variety means our palates become more educated. All of this has lead to a variety of opinions on the importance of age, and the realization that great whisky can be found in basically any age range.
Another idea you hear floated about in some whisky circles is that heavily peated whisky works better at a young age than unpeated young whisky. In my personal experience, this notion is utter bullshit (recent example: see my review of Kilkerran Heavily Peated). While a heavy dose of peat smoke can cover up many of the flaws of youth, it doesn’t usually succeed. Sure, there are some excellent young peated whiskies out there, but there are excellent young unpeated malts as well—and in both cases, they are exceptions to the norm based on the quality of the distillate itself, be it peated or not. Older whisky isn’t necessarily better whisky, but age does matter. Or to put it another way, older isn’t always better, but it does increase the odds of it being better. Significantly. (Up to a point… my personal sweet spot for single malts is usually in the 21-25 year range.)
So anyway… a five year old Ardbeg? A fascinating idea. When I first heard the news of Wee Beastie’s release, I was thrilled that Ardbeg had the courage to put a five year age statement on the label, but I was also skeptical. Most of the young Ardbeg I’ve had in the past has disappointed. Will Wee Beastie disappoint or be a welcome new addition to the lineup? Let’s find out.
Ardbeg Wee Beastie Review
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Islay
Age: 5 years
ABV: 47.4%
Non chill-filtered
Nose
Smoky peat, with the emphasis more on the smoke than the peat. Grilled meats. Bacon grease. Very meaty. Lemon zest. Tar. Soot. Damp earth. Some youthful notes. Sweet malt. New make spirit.
A typical and pretty nice Ardbeg nose, although that young malt note stands out in a bad way, often dominating the other flavors. A portent of things to come?
Palate
Youthful. Obviously it’s five years old, and it tastes like it. Big lemon candy notes. Lemon lime lollipop. Cream soda. Smoky peat. Quite malty. Sweet malt. New make spirit.
Quite harsh when the bottle was first opened. After getting halfway through the bottle over six months, it’s mellowed, matured, and become better… but still pretty mediocre.
The mouthfeel is a bit on the thin side.
Finish
Short. A whiff of peat smoke and lemon, and then it mostly vanishes. A bit of simple syrup and sweet malt lingers.
Overall
Decent nose, mediocre palate (at best), thin texture, poor finish. The lemon candy note is nice, but the harshness of young spirit can’t be covered over with a few nice notes. Wee Beastie did significantly improve over time after the bottle was opened for a while, but I had to get halfway through the bottle for that to happen. If I were to score the first half of the bottle, I’d give it a 3/10, while the second half would be closer to a 5/10. So I’ll split the difference and hesitantly give it a 4. It’s great that the whisky opened up and became more enjoyable over time, but I shouldn’t have to drink half the bottle before that happens.
All in all, Wee Beastie is a flawed, below average whisky. Ardbeg at a young age just isn’t very good.
SCORE: 4/10
Final Thoughts
I really wanted to like this whisky. I’m thrilled that Ardbeg was bold enough to release a bottle with a five year age statement instead of yet another NAS expression, but ultimately this dram is a disappointment.
Buying Advice: For just $10 more (or even less, perhaps), you can buy a bottle of Ardbeg 10 year old, a vastly superior dram. Unless you’re really pinching pennies, I see no good reason to buy Wee Beastie over the 10 year (or An Oa for that matter, another Ardbeg in the same price range, which is also better than Wee Beastie).
Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.
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