A member of the Ardbeg Committee, I received an email from the local Ardbeg representative inviting me to Jack Rose Saloon tonight (9/23/17) to celebrate the release of the newest Ardbeg expression, An Oa (which I recently picked up and reviewed).
The event was a real blast - they had a lot of swag, from glencairn glasses to tumblers to shirts to little cones of Islay peat meant to be burnt like incense to water droppers. Lots and lots of swag.
They had four stations, one for each of the core expressions (Ten Year, An Oa, Uigeadail, Corryvreckan) and one for a cocktail they invented, made of Ten Year, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice, served in a tumbler with lemon peel. The Ardbeg rep, Clarke Boyer, told us that Uigeadail tended to be the people's favorite at events like these.
Then there was a speech from Clarke and his boss about An Oa, and about the giant French oak "marrying" vat they constructed as part of making An Oa a permanent place in the Ardbeg family - something to blend the various whiskies together and also give them a common denominator, so to speak. He described the idea behind An Oa being to bring new drinkers into the Ardbeg fold, people who might not like peat-and-smoke bombs, but also a whisky that won't alienate current Ardbeg drinkers. I'd say they succeeded.
It was a top-notch night, and everything went off smoothly. The whole event reminded me again why I'm a huge Ardbeg fan - my favorite distillery.
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