The Little Beast Loosens Its Grip

The bottle. The Wee Beastie is a five-year-old Islay single malt raised in ex-Oloroso and ex-Bourbon casks, and for something so young it comes at you hard. The nose is all intense peat first, wood smoke and phenolic vapours and black pepper, a sea breeze behind it and a twist of sour lemon, and then the casks step in with milk chocolate raisins, bacon fat, star anise, orange blossom, a little orchard fruit, vanilla and powdered sugar. On the palate it stays peaty, punchy and oily, and the finish runs long and smoky. It is not a quiet dram, and it does not pretend to be.

What to pay. This week it is $92, and it usually sells around $106, with what we have seen ranging from $90 up to $106. Work it out by the pour and the bottle holds about 26 standard drinks at roughly $3.51 each, which comes in under a pint at the pub at about $6.28 for the same measure, so a good smoky pour at the bench costs you less than the same measure at the pub.

What its neighbours' drinkers would pay. Here is the useful part, where you ask the drinkers of the bottles nearest the Wee Beastie what they would hand over for it, each of them starting from what they already pay for their own. A Laphroaig 10 drinker would pay about $68 for the Wee Beastie, which is 62% of what their own bottle costs them, and they mark it down mostly for being stronger and for being younger than theirs. Turn the question around and an Ardbeg Wee Beastie drinker puts a Laphroaig 10 at about 67% of their own bottle, marking it down for being lighter in strength and for being older than theirs. Across the drinkers of the bottles closest to it the answers run from $68 at the low end to $122 at the high, and at $92 this week the Wee Beastie sits comfortably inside that span.

Three stand-ins. If you want a change of scene, three bottles sit near enough to stand in.

Lagavulin 8, $113, is the shoreline in a glass, mineral and salt up front and then menthol, bay laurel and a surprising dab of Parma violet, all of it kept breezy. To a Wee Beastie drinker it gives about 92% of what the Wee Beastie does, for 123% of its price. Port Charlotte 10, $146 and usually around $146 with a floor of $120, is the meaty one, heavily peated but not overpowering, butterscotch and a subtle sherry turn and iodine that never takes over, darker and less sweet than you expect. To a Wee Beastie drinker it gives about 83% of what the Wee Beastie does, for 159% of its price. Laphroaig 10, $109, is the old fabric sticking plaster and the seaweed, brine-laden peat and charcoal with vanilla and caramel underneath and barbecue on the finish. To a Wee Beastie drinker it gives about 67% of what the Wee Beastie does, for 118% of its price.

Who it's for. If the Wee Beastie is already your bottle, $92 is what it asks this week and the smoke is as loud as ever, so fill the cupboard. If you drink Laphroaig 10 for the plaster and the brine, the Wee Beastie offers you a younger, stronger cousin for about $68 of your own money. If Lagavulin 8 is your Islay, it stays the closest match on the bench at 92%, so the Wee Beastie is the easiest step across. And if Port Charlotte 10 is where you usually land, the Wee Beastie gives you most of that darker smoke for a good deal less at the till. So which Islay is already sitting in your cupboard, and is this the week you let the little beast in beside it?