Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist Whisky Review!

The polar opposite Ardbeg from last week's review, the raw and undercooked 5-year old Wee Beastie! This blast from the past is a very, very different beast. Or should that be beist? 

Airigh Nam Beist is something of a legend in modern Ardbeg terms. It only lasted three years, and was last bottled in 2008 before being replaced in the line-up by a vastly different whisky in the non-age statement Corryvreckan. The name Airigh Nam Beist, pronounced "Arry-nam-baysht", means 'shelter of the beast' or 'shelter of the animals' in Gaelic. It is the name given to the small freshwater loch (lake) that sits between Ardbeg's water source, Loch Uigeadail, and the dam built at the distillery. But this whisky is also known by another name: Ardbeg 1990. Despite being bottled over three years from 2006-2008, and the bottling year is listed on the back label, all Airigh Nam Beist was distilled in the same year. They don't have exact age statements printed, but if your bottle has 2006 listed on the back label as the bottling year, you have a 15-16 year old Ardbeg, and if it has 2008, you have a 17-18 year old Ardbeg official bottling. Which prior to 2019's release of the 19-year old Traigh Bhan was a very rare thing, and is still nothing to be taken for granted. But Airigh Nam Beist is far more special, because while Traigh Bhan was distilled in the year 2000 under the distillery's current owners, the distillery was a very different place a decade earlier. Following a closure from 1981-1989, the distillery was revived under the ownership of Allied Distillers, but only operated for roughly two months of the year for the next 6-7 years. What's interesting there is that Allied also owned another distillery down the road that you may have heard of, named Laphroaig, and rather than employing separate crews to run Ardbeg over those two months of the year, they sent the Laphroaig distilling team up the road to Ardbeg to keep the lights on. And it just so happens that one member of that Laphroaig distilling team at the time was none other than Mickey Heads, who would go on to manage Ardbeg from 2007 up until his recent retirement. 

As you may imagine, the distillery wasn't particularly well-loved during this time and was in a sorry state of disrepair before it was closed again in 1996. But it was purchased by Glenmorangie - which would later be purchased by Moet Hennessy, and then became part of the LVMH empire - a year later, who brought the distillery back to life and have ensured that those green doors won't be closing again anytime soon. Stocks from those pre-Glenmorangie era are now quite rare, since alongside the two month per year operating status Allied Distillers had no qualms about selling quality casks to independent bottlers, which is not the case with the current owners. Bottlings from Gordon & MacPhail and Cadenheads from this era were particularly numerous, but they also seem to be drying up these days with pricing to match. Official bottlings though are even harder to find. Airigh Nam Beist had been on my bucket list for quite some time, until I stumbled across the chance to try it at a fantastic member's only whisky bar in London named Soho Whisky Club. Among the mind-blowing array of bottles adorning the walls at this small, expertly-staffed and quite reasonably priced (even with membership factored in) bar was one last generous dram of Airigh Nam Beist, bottled in 2008. And it was instantly cemented as one of my favourite official Ardbegs to date, among the likes of the 2009 Supernova, Ardbog and Alligator. Oh and the original Ardbeg Day bottling from 2012. 

Airigh Nam Beist sits apart from those younger, more typically-Ardbeggian bottlings, thanks to it's age, the casks used (all were first- and second-fill bourbon cask matured), and also it's comparatively lower bottling strength of 46% ABV - but 'ANB' doesn't suffer because of that, not at all. This is not a big, peaty bruiser of an Ardbeg, instead this is a more refined, balanced, creamy whisky that still shows it's smoky, coastal roots, but in a softer and more inviting way. It's even very different to the likes of the recent 'Twenty Something' bottlings that were distilled post-1997 under the current owners, and the much older 17-year old bottling that was distilled in the early 1980s and discontinued in 2004. In my opinion, it belongs right next to those older whiskies on the top shelves of Ardbeg's past bottlings. These days a bottle of Airigh Nam Beist will not be easy to find, and prices have jumped over the last couple of years. You'll be looking at 220-290 GBP on the British auction sites - which with the buyer's premium, shipping and if you're down under, the ridiculous Australian customs charges will make for one very expensive bottle. I'd estimate the total at around $800 AUD landed, which is quite the hefty sum. But for a now-legendary Ardbeg that was discontinued twelve years ago and has not been repeated since, you can still see the value there. Particularly when the recent Twenty Something bottlings hover around the $900-1200 mark at the same strength. The sample for this review came from a generous mate who decided to crack this 2008 bottling open at a recent session - and although the cork broke on contact, it was something of a show-stopper! 

Ardbeg 1990 Airigh Nam Beist, NAS (but see below) 46%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled in 1990 and bottled in either 2006, 2007 or 2008 as stated on back label (so 15-18 year old depending on bottling year). Matured in first- and second-fill bourbon casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Full gold, tinges of copper. 

Nose: Sweet, creamy and coastal. Sweetened vanilla cream, sweet & sour pineapple chunks, black pepper and natural lime juice. Warm tar and sharp coastal notes - seaweed, hot sand, damp rocks and drying sea salt. A hint of dark toffee and sweet white (honeydew) melon in the background. 

Texture: Medium weight. Refined & inviting, creamy & oily. No heat whatsoever. 

Taste: Creamy vanilla, some ashy, spicy peat and brine. More black pepper and a touch of that pineapple again but it's sweeter here. The lime juice again too but it's more subtle here. Charred, caramelised oak as well, with a little salted butter. 

Finish: Long length. That creaminess is delicious! Vanilla and sweet & sour pineapple again, and the black pepper. Sea salt and oyster shells. A touch of Ardbeg's classic tarry natural rope and a hint of liquorice, with that spicy, ashy peat carrying through 'til the end. 

Score: 4.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Well. Fantastic. Love it. Quintessentially Ardbeg, but with that gentler, creamy character joining in and adding a new dimension. There's still plenty of peat and plenty of coastal Islay-ness to play with as well, and there's no shortage of... well, anything actually! The classic Ardbeg DNA of sweet fruit, black pepper, lime & tarry ropes are all there - and that's missing from some of their modern / current bottlings if you ask me. But it's also so inviting, and even refreshing. A more poetic writer might call it restorative. And it's just as delicious as I remember it being from that all-too-brief encounter in London three years ago. There can't be many casks of Ardbeg from the early 90s left now, which is a shame, because that Laphroaig crew certainly seem to have done a great job! And thank god (or the spaghetti monster, or the whisky gods) that the casks that they used were still good quality, and that at least some of those casks were left alone so that the new owners could give them their due when the time finally came. 

So, is Airigh Nam Beist "worth" the secondary prices that it commands in 2020? In my opinion, as an Ardbeg lover that had yet to properly discover whisky when this stuff was still readily available, the answer is going to be yes. You'll probably need to be an Ardbeg lover to agree with me there, but this is really a piece of the distillery's history, and it's from a darker period in that history when things weren't looking so great - although you'd never be able to guess it from the experience that 'the Beist' provides. And it won't be repeated. Get your whisky hunting gear out folks!

Cheers!