As a lead up to the Ardbeg Day release this year, we were able to try a lineup of past whiskies that have been released in the past few years. Included in these was Ardbeg An Oa, the last addition to the lineup from Ardbeg in quite awhile.

But why add something? A lot of whisky nerds agree they love Ardbeg 10, Uigeadail, and Corryvreckan. So much so that some wonder why not just stick to those, and therein we have the downside to having good releases.

However a few years ago Ardbeg Dark Cove came out. As many people know, the special Ardbeg Day releases are meant to be interesting, creative whiskies. Not all of them are home runs, though some are very much beloved. Dark Cove ended up one such beloved release and the question of what can Ardbeg do to keep up the hype.

Enter Ardbeg…