An Oa is the gentle Ardbeg — seven cask types married in a French oak vat in the distillery’s Gathering Room, bottled at 46.6% — the first core-range addition in eight years when it launched in 2017, named for the Mull of Oa on Islay’s southwest coast. Ardbeg has distilled on the Kildalton coast since 1815 and was rescued by Glenmorangie in 1997 — LVMH owns both now — with Dr. Bill Lumsden directing the whisky; the malt is peated to around 55 ppm, and An Oa is the round one: Pedro Ximénez sherry, heavily charred virgin oak, and first-fill bourbon casks among seven types, married for months in the Gathering Vat, and bottled at 46.6% without chill filtration. Whisky Notes, 84: fresh, mezcal-like on the nose — sweet lemon, fennel seed, peat smoke, vanilla; toasted notes with pepper, ginger, chocolate, black tea, and grapefruit on the palate; and a finish of peppercorn, clove, light chocolate, and bonfire smoke — a toned-down Ardbeg. The Whiskey Wash and The Whiskey Ramble both call it the approachable one. Honest note: the Ardbeg for the drinker who found the Ten too sharp — rounder, sweeter, softer smoke — and the Islay gateway that doesn’t scare people off; enthusiasts go to Uigeadail. Neat. An Oa, the gathering vat.
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