A Week of Whisky: 23 Bottles of This Long-Sold-Out Whisky Are Hiding in the Lower Mainland

Some of you may recall back in the fall I did a post about three bottles I was angling for at the BC Spirits Release. Well, full disclosure, there were actually four I was angling for. Fuller disclosure—I didn’t disclose the 4th because it was the one I really wanted and I didn’t want the competition. So on the one hand: selfish prick. On the other: unfailingly honest. 

The karmic result was that I didn’t get any of the bottles I put in for. Oh, well, I thought—there’s always grain alcohol cut with McDonald’s caramel sauce. But last week I was trolling around on the BCLDB site and what pops up, but bottle #4: Ardbeg Wee Beastie.

I sorta freaked out. The bottle sold out everywhere thanks in part to the fervour people feel about Ardbeg (me included), the collectability of Ardbeg (up there with The Macallan) and the very low price point—under $70. All of which I was all in on. But to be honest, I’m not really a whisky collector. It’s too tricky to sell bottles in the People’s Republic of BC (trust me, a fair dig liquor wise) and I really do just prefer drinking them. 

I tried a sample of the Wee Beastie early in the year and was taken by it. It subscribes to the growing school of thought that Islay whisky is best consumed young(er), because what people love about it—it’s peaty boldness—is at its zenith around the 5-year mark. It’s an interesting concept but I’m not a wholesale adopter—anyone who’s familiar with what 16 years can do to Lagavulin wouldn’t exactly describe it as simply a mellowing process.

So there you have it. There’s no bottles left in Metro Vancouver (you can see where they are by clicking here), but Surrey is doing alright, as is Richmond. I’ve—hand on the Bible—not got my bottle yet, but am heading out the second this is published and I promise I won’t buy all of them.