Ardnahoe 5 Inaugural Release Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- Today I review the long anticipated first release from the newest operational distillery on Islay, Ardnahoe. Owned by the Laing family, Ardnahoe distillery has unusually long lyne arms and employs the only wormtubs on the island.
This inaugural release is 5 years old, bottled at 50%abv with no added colour or chill filtering and is matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and oloroso casks. Let's see how Ardnahoe's first attemp at an Islay whisky fares.
At the end of the review I also compare Ardnagoe 5 to Ardbeg Wee Beastie which also has a 5 year old age statement, close to 50%abv and has some sherry influence. Let's see how they compare to one another. Cheers!
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0:00 Intro & Information
3:30 Nose
4:45 Palate&Finish
6:10 Ardnahoe Second Round, Thoughts & Recommendation
8:45 Ardbeg Wee Beastie Info
9:35 Ardbeg Wee Beastie Nose, Palate & Finish
11:20 Final comparison and final thoughts
Glad to see Ardnahoe get their inaugural release out. The Lang family has such a great legacy. Look forward to getting some. Thanks for a great review.
Yes we've been waiting for this for a while now! Absolutely I am too waiting for newer releases from them. Thanks for watching, cheers!
Great to see you enjoying this too. The Dharma Initiative logo is the eight trigrams of the Bagua which is important in several aspects of Chinese culture and spirituality. It's sort of like an expanded yin yang showing the balance between Heaven and Earth, Thunder and Wind, Fire and Water, etc. I feel like the similarity of their box design may not have been a coincidence. Cheers 🥃
Wow Shane didn't know this, thank you for enlightening me and yes after reading this I don't think it was a coincidence either 😃
Im so happy that this inaugural release was a sizeable one. This whisky hasnt landed in Canada yet but once it does it is a must buy for me. The distillery was a magical place to visit and i cant wait to actually try the whisky. Awesome video buddy, cheers eh! 🥃
I'm still envious of your awesome Islay trip 😃 Looking forward to your take on this when you get a chance. Thanks Matt, cheers back
Glad you enjoyed it my friend. Cheers.
Thanks Jim, I absolutely did! Cheers
Great review and comparison. Sounds solid. Also sounds like you have a great sister.
Cheers 🥃
Thanks John and yes I do have a great sister, she's my little mule when it comes to these new releases 😅
Well, this migh make it official everyone enjoys Ardnahoe. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I appreciate the comparison with the Wee Beastie. I agree there is some older stock in that Ardbeg. Boring ... interesting. Cheers!
Well what's not to like Jon, a young high abv harsh(ish) heavily peated maritime malt! Thanks for watching 😃
Been looking forward to this review! Loving your pine note. One of my favourites notes in a whisky so I’m sure this is some great scotch but I just refuse to pay £70 on a 5 year old. The laphroaig 16 cost me £10 more last year and that’s also full of pine. If this ever drops in price in the future I’m definitely going to pick it up! Cheers 🥃
Ash I absolutely understand and if it wasn't an inaugural release I wouldn't either. I think for a first release of this caliber the price is OK, not great but ok. I'm sure we'll see more and more Ardnahoes cheaper in the future. Thanks for watching 🥃
Interesting comparison! Port and cold cuts are not my thing but I have heard enough from friends that the Ardnahoe is going to be a scotch I enjoy! They know my palette! I can see how the Ardbeg might win out! I am very excited to try the Ardnahoe!! Great video!! Harsher, younger, fresher sounds wonderful!!
Thanks Christine. I hope you get to try it soon and let us know if you like it. Happy hunting 😃
@@thewhiskyenthusiast My husband and I and friends are on the hunt! Looks like a close friend in Europe who found a couple of bottles will bring one when she visits in July!! Yay!! Thanks for the awesome reply!! Cheers! 🙂
Good review brother. I really like the Ardnahoe. It does everything right (just as Bimber does). I would actually like them to keep this expression as part of their core line up as they move forward. The price will have to come down though even though I appreciate the 50% abv - my favourite. I am also a fan of Wee Beastie which was sitting on a major U.K supermarket shelf for £30 today. I drink so many single cask whiskies so I don't mind if the age statement is literally the actual age, especially Islay whisky when young can be excellent. It's great to see the power of these major independent bottlers like Hunter Laing investing in new distilleries. G&M and Benromach are superstars to me.
Thank you, glad you liked it! Yes the price will absolutely have to come down and I'm sure they'll even themselves out after a couple of releases. Young Islay is always appreciated if you're into those flavours!
Benromach is awesome and I agree with you, that these independent bottlers have such a wealth of knowledge, it makes sense for them to produce their own malts and they'll all be probably very very good! Cheers
Still waiting for this one here in the US. The guy at my best local shop says they're not even answering his emails about stocking it, so it may be a while.
Ah man that's a bummer but I'm sure some of those 70,000 bottles will make their away across the ocean to you. Cheers!
Hi Sertug, quite an interesting review, also because you did that smart comparison at the end (indeed, not many aged stated young whiskies on Islay, so kudos to both distilleries for releasing them !) but it alas still leaves me with some questions, even if the vast majority of video & blog reviews are positive about the Ardnahoe too...Here in France this whisky is sold around 95/99 €, so the most expensive islands & recent releases Scotch wise from a new distillery, along with the Strathearn from the other Laing brother...Last year I thought Isle of Harris's The Hearach was expensive at 85 €, but this one goes beyond it...Not sure I wanna "invest" in it as I have choices to do, low leisure budget at the moment & probably took the wrong decision recently to buy some (for now apparently average) origin related whiskies, but we'll see...Now that said there is something that you didn't do on cam (& alas now many youtubers don't do too), it is to dilute slightly the whisky with a few drops of water to see how it reacts...I guess maybe you done it off cam, so may I ask if it was any change ? I'm curious...Anyway, enjoy your bottle, mate !
Thanks for your input Greg. i absolutely agree with you on how expensive this is. My only point in saying it's a good value was because it's an inaugural release. Like Ardnamurchan, if they gradually drop their prices as they release new bottles, I think we'll be happy with them. Of course they can do the exact opposite and play for the premium market which then they would lose all support from 'us'. Let's wait and see. I don't necessarily feel the fomo or hunt down every new release but I have been waiting for Ardnahoe to release something since the beginning and I couldn't help myself :)
As for water, I just don't like it. You're right maybe as channels we should be a bit more informative and try everything and give all the information available to the viewers but I rarely enjoy water in whisky. 50%abv for me is just right so I didn't even think of adding. I always say 'water giveth and water taketh away' which is a weird way of saying when I add water either the nose or the palate gets damaged and I just don't see the point most of the time. Cheers man, thanks for watching
Nice review, but you definitely should talk about the price difference too; you can get 2 Ardbegs for the price of this new harsh kid :) £70 for a 5y old, not even cask strength whisky is too much. I'd maybe give a try if it were around 50, even that would be high. You can get many 15y or even 18y old whisky for that price. It's nice to support craft distilleries, but this is too much; you can get 2 bottles of Ardnamurchan for that price. Thx for the review though, slainte!
You are absolutely right on the price. It is expensive for a 5 year old sure but this is a first release and comparing it to some younger recent first releases with less specs it's actually good. I would've loved if it was 50 or so but I think we'll see more releases from Ardnahoe at fairer prices. I will judge them on their second release price believe me 😃 Thanks for watching 🥃