Ardbeg An Oa Review [From Paris with Love]

Hi everyone,

So, this is Ardbeg’s latest NAS release, as an add-on to their core range.

At release there was a lot of talk of different types of sherry, special marrying vats and virgin oak, which made for a bit of convoluted sounding mix. Like some kind of watered down baby of Oog and Corry.

I was curious to try this but Ardbeg stand was swamped all day at Whisky Live Paris. VR is being explored as a marketing ploy and Ardbeg and Glenfiddich are eager to exploit it, so of course Ardbeg had a little boat you could sit in with your wellies on and pretend you’re a smuggler or some such.

How does their new whisky actually taste though?

Ardbeg An Oa 46.6%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Like a blend of the 10 and Corry. Ardbeggian smoke, virgin oak, the pine needles I normally get from Corry, creamy, lime peel and juice, chilli chocolate.

Taste: Sour arrival, sour lime juice, then some spicy oak and ginger develops but it goes quite spicy with the chilli coming in too.

Finish: Medium length. Oak and smoke, not much else.

I don’t really get why they bothered releasing this. It’s not different enough from Corry in my opinion. To me it tastes like just watered down Corry. It’s Ardbeg, so it’s still good but it’s a weak release compared to their other products. Give me a bottle of the 10 over this any day.

74/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #459

Whisky Network Review #524

Network Average: 74.2

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?