[October, 2017]  I call this the "little Kelpie".  Obviously, Kelpie was a test ballot on how a caucasian virgin oak Ardbeg is received by the Ardbeg community.  And as the reactions on the Kelpie were rather mixed they most probably adjusted the An Oa recipe to a more smoother and less woody (aggressive) dram by adding more standard bourbon casks and less virgin oak - what is fine.

But why do they use virgin caucasian oak at all?  The reason is very simple:  Due to the long-lasting whisky boom there is a severe cask shortage at all Scottish distilleries (bourbon whisky did not grow as much as Scotch did) and even more severe at groups that do not own a bourbon distiillery in their portfolio (like LVHM).  Consequently, to mature the ever growing output scottish distilleries more and more have to use virgin oak casks too and therefore a lot of scotch whisky has become more wood-driven and bourbon-ish in their style (look at Laphroaig or Macallan, for example).  

Caucasian oak induces a different flavours profile into whisky than the traditional american or european oak.  It is significantly more herbal with eucalyptus and camphor notes (that I personally do not like as this reminds me of cough medicine).  In this respect it is a completely new style of whisky that you either like or not.  But to say it very clear:  Distilleries do this out of despair (as they are short of high quality casks) and not because they want to innovate...  But it is an innovation, nevertheless!  And we will see if this leads to some more interesting flavour profiles over time (once the maturation had a chance to really work over an appropriate period and not just for a few years as with the Kelpie or An Oa), especially when second and third fill caucasian casks are available.

But to be honest:  This is a typical Ardbeg, for sure and it is better than other standard editions right now (good that they did the test ballot with the Kelpie).  But it is not great and rather average only (or judged by Ardbeg standards:  still below average)...

PS:  I tried batch L67986 bottled 04/07/2017.

Ardbeg An Oa NAS | 46.6% | 22 + 21 + 21 + 21 = 85pts
N: Smoke, vanilla, lemons, bananas, hay, dark chocolate, a little tobacco and anise, caramel.
T: Sour-bitter, tart, soft and creamy, some chocolate, soap, oranges, cinnamon and other sweet spices.
F: Medium length, dry, creamy coniferous, tart, slightly bitterly in flowers, small peat plume.
B: After the first sip, the fragrance begins to smear into some not very pleasant hay-soap of notes. But overall, good ard.

bottle code: L67986 03/07/2017

Love the nose and thought it is a winner. Then the virgin oak and PX came through and make the dram quite unpleasant for my tongue which hits rock bottom in the finish.

I still hope they'll add just a simple 8 or 10yo first fill bourbon cask strength to their core range in my lifetime.

Tasted at Whiskyexperience World of Drinks (simultanious with the Ten (which I prefer).

Somewhat unbalanced dram, PX and Virgin oak are fighting.... a bit too sweet at times, and less peaty then older Ardbegs. Marketing dram.....

Freshly squeezed lemons, subdued and clean smoke, freshly cut birch trees, lots of charcoal and ashes. Not too complex. On the palate the virgin oak is talking loud. I think they used heavily charred new oak and added only small amounts of px- and bourboncasks. Sharpness, green notes, ginger, bonfiresmoke, a feeling like sucking on charcoal. A hint of px-sweetness. And then its gone.

Not too sure about this one. I dont think it adds something worthwhile to the core-range. It has a strange and "doctored" virgin oak taste that is not quite to my liking. Not as extreme as in the Kelpie, but it is there. I find it also to be fairly one-dimensional. Is it drinkable? Yes. Will I buy another bottle? Problaby not.