They say you should start a new year out with your best foot forward, so I can think of no better way to do that than letting the Lovely Assistant review a good scotch. People requested more His & Her Reviews in 2022, and you can’t claim I’m unresponsive to the needs of the masses.

We lost the singular Betty White yesterday, so I couldn’t think of a better way to go than something complicated and cask strength. It came to my attention that I’ve never actually reviewed any Ardbeg, so we’re remedying that too.

Here’s her review of Ardbeg Uigeadail:

I’m less familiar with Ardbeg versus some of my go-to Islay whiskies like Lagavulin 16 and Port Charlotte 10, but that’s not so much any evidence of preference as it is random happenstance. Either way, I’ve been looking forward to this one.

Nose: If Buddy the Elf traveled through the Candy-cane Forest, then I just washed up on Salted Caramel Beach. Imagine a beach with a sea of caramel and salt, and sand of fresh vanilla. There’s definitely Islay peat smoke here too, but for me it’s more ambient than it is prominent. There’s a salty-sweet density that defines this nose.

Palate: There is an intense buttery quality to this mouthfeel I was both completely unprepared for and delightfully surprised by. It almost harkens to a fat washed bourbon or rum, it’s so rich and thick. The flavors start with, at least for me, a very light smoke note buried underneath an avalanche of honey and salted caramel candy. This is such a decadent opening. The dessert buffet gives way to sea salt and an umami flavor I can’t entirely triangulate — it’s not meaty but it is heavy. My cohort suggested it was sulfates from the sherry casks, and that could very well be; there’s a red wine dryness that crops up late.

Image courtesy of Jon who also writes on Low Class & High Proof.

Low Class & High Proof

I learned how to make cocktails watching Danger 5