TOP RATED PEATED SCOTCH WHISKIES

PEATED SCOTCH FROM MAINLY ISLAY

Over the last 20 years of growth in the Scotch Whisky Industry, there has been a revival of different styles and tastes, including peaty. Peat, also known as turf, is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. Peatlands, particularly bogs, are the primary source of peat, although less-common wetlands including fens, pocosins, and peat swamp forests also deposit peat. Organic matter accumulates over thousands of years to create peat deposits. Under pressure, water is forced out of peat, which is soft and easily compressed, and once dry can be used as fuel. In many countries, including Ireland and Scotland, peat has traditionally been used for cooking and domestic heating, and peat is stacked to dry in rural areas. It is harvested on an industrial scale.

Peat bricks being dried before use

Some Scotch whisky distilleries, such as those on Islay, use peat fires to dry malted barley. The drying process takes about 30 hours. This gives the whiskies a distinctive smoky flavour, called "peatiness". Scotch Ales can also use peat roasted malt, imparting a similar smoked flavour.

Peat can be a very divisive flavour component in the world of whisky. It is most commonly found in the single malt scotch category, although its also present in whisky from Japan, India, Ireland, and even the Pacific Northwest. As malted barley is heated to dry it out and stop the germination process, peat is burned to infuse the grain with smoke and flavour it. How peaty the whisky is depends on how long it has been exposed to the smoke, measured in PPM (phenol parts per million). The higher the PPM, the smokier the whisky. You can read up on PPM here.

There is a wide range of smoky whisky to enjoy, from light and crisp to medicinal and heavy to one of the highest PPMs distilled in recent history. If you think you don’t like smoky whisky, perhaps you just haven’t tried the right one yet. A peaty dram is best enjoyed in the winter, as the cold temperatures, limited sunlight and dreary skies lend themselves to these flavours, especially when warming up by an equally smoky fire. Let’s look at some recent entries into the smoky, peated whisky category to savour all season long.

Ardbeg Drum

Ardbeg Day is held on the last Saturday of Islay’s Festival of Music and Malt, and is a chance for lovers of the peaty Scotch whisky to celebrate with something special, as the brand is continuing its tradition of special Ardbeg Day releases with this year’s offering: Ardbeg Drum. Ardbeg Drum is best described as a Scotch whisky with a Caribbean twist.

For the first time, the distillery has taken a single malt that was aged in ex-bourbon casks and rested it in ex-rum casks from the Americas. According to Ardbeg sources, it’s taken about a good decade or so to produce Ardbeg Drum. Ardbeg Drum was a good while in the making—around ten years from the initial idea, through to finally selecting the right rum that would stand up to Ardbeg and its peaty power, maturing the whisky, and eventually releasing it to the world! In Ardbeg Drum the influence of the rum cask is a lot more subtle. The sweetness of the rum intertwines with the citrus and smoke of the classic Ardbeg character, while still packing a peaty punch. In Ardbeg Drum, Ardbeg Scotch whisky from ex-Bourbon casks and ex-rum casks from the Americas produces a downright wondrous paradiddle of aromas.

Drinkers can expect to find “a multitude of complex flavours parading across the palate – fragrant pine resin and woodsmoke dance alongside ripe banana and pineapple. Then lavender, licorice, and vanilla strut into a long, smoky finish.” Ardbeg Drum will be released for sale soon. Coming in non-chillfiltered at 52% ABV, it will retail for around $110.

Talisker 18 YO

A rich and full-bodied single malt matured in a variety of casks, which were previously used to age bourbon and sherry for a minimum of 18 years, Talisker 18 YO is a masterpiece from one of Scotland's greatest distilleries, and was named 'Best Single Malt Whisky in the World' at the World Whiskies Awards in 2007. As always, 45.8% ABV, 70 Cl. Stunning balance of peat, spice and sweetness. A pleasant and warming malt from the wild and stormy island of Skye. Full-bodied, with a rich smokiness, toffee sweetness and just a hint of chilli. Heavy and quite peaty on the palate. Sweet smoke too. During round 2 the nose seemed sweeter. It has power, but it's not clearly peaty. Here's another one that needs quite some time to fully open up in the nose - and expose the peat on the palate.

Taste: Tannins in the finish - which seems just a tad thin. An intense peppery finish, with lingering smoke. Touch of liquorice. This one needs time to open up. Adding water to the Talisker 18 year old brings out the Talisker of old - seaweed, smoke, low level peat.

Laphroaig Lore

Created by Distillery Manager John Campbell, Laphroaig Lore is said to be the richest ever Laphroaig! Named after the skills passed down over the generations, this permanent addition to the range is matured in a combination of casks including first fill Sherry butts and quarter casks and is said to contain some of their "most precious stock". 

Laphroaig Lore is the story of Laphroaig itself. It’s a massive whisky, as bold as it is deep, and one that does justice to many generations of Laphroaig distillery products.  The whisky they make is because of the knowledge and craft that has been passed down throughout the years. Lore is Laphroaig story bottled – the richest of the rich.

Nose: Rich and smoky with seaside minerals with a hint of ash and bitter chocolate drops. Vanilla follows with oily unroasted chestnuts and a hint of fudge with a malty sweetness. A drop of water adds a creamy clotted cream note with fruit appearing in the form of unripe citrus in a flan glaze.The palate is obviously richly peaty with a spicy chilli bite, while the finish is short and dry with a long sweet aftertaste.

Octomore Masterclass 8.3 Edition

The world’s most heavily peated single malts have had a Brobdingnagian effect on a world aching for a challenge to comfortable convention. An esoteric series of numbered, experimental, mostly very limited releases, has clearly refuted the assumption that the quality of single malt Scotch whisky is simply a function of its age. Clinging to the hill high above Port Charlotte on the Rhinns of Islay is the enigma that is Octomore Farm, for Octomore too once housed a distillery.

Even older than the beautiful village it overlooks, Octomore is a throwback to the days of fierce independence, when self-sufficiency was the only option, and the legality of working on distillation itself still a revolutionary concept. For some, this can be overkill, but the distillery manages to bring subtle flavour nuances into the mix as well. The whisky is forward, strong, and smoky, but it’s not a one trick pony.

This year there are four Octomore expressions out, and the five-year-old 8.3 edition is said to be the most peated Octomore release thus far at 309 PPM–that’s really, really smoky. The resulting five-year-old whisky is an intensely peaty dram which develops flavours of dark chocolate, cherry and peach. The variety of casks used to age the whisky comes through on the palate as well, with over half first-fill bourbon barrels and the remainder being European oak casks formerly used for Pauillac, Ventoux, Rhone, and Burgundy wine. Octomore is a muscular whisky for hardcore peat lovers.

Ardbeg An Oa

Ardbeg has been called “as close to perfection as makes no difference,” by whisky connoisseurs. Proof then, that Ardbeg truly deserves its incredible reputation. A whisky worshipped around the world. In the past ten years, six different Ardbeg expressions have won prestigious titles including World Whisky of the Year, Scotch Whisky of the Year and World’s Best Single Malt.

Ardbeg An Oa is the first release to join the permanent Ardbeg family in over 10 years. Its named after the headlands at the tip of Islay that shelter the coast with their imposing, towering cliffs. The whisky is very smoky but perhaps not as much as the flagship Ardbeg 10. Ardbeg An Oa is singularly rounded, due in no small part to time spent in our newly established bespoke oak Gathering Vat where whiskies from several cask types - including; sweet Pedro Ximenez; spicy virgin charred oak; and intense ex-bourbon casks, amongst others - familiarise themselves with each other. The result is a dram with smoky power, mellowed by a delectable, smooth sweetness. Hallmark Ardbeg peat, dark chocolate and aniseed are wrapped in smooth, silky butterscotch, black pepper and clove, before rising to an intense crescendo of flavour. Non chill-filtered with a strength of 46.6% ABV. Don’t let your experience (or lack of) dictate your willingness to try this whisky, but it’s definitely more for the smoke nerds.

Lagavulin 8 YO

The Lagavulin Distillery on Islay is directly between Ardbeg and Laphroaig and is home to perhaps one of Scotland's most famous whiskies. The peat and iodine of the sea give its renowned flagship 16 year old single malt a pungent smoky flavour with tones of sea salt, rich fruits and lapsang souchon (smoked tea) which can divide tasters - many consider it to be amongst the world's smokiest whiskies. Lagavulin also regularly produces special edition whiskies, including a 12 year old and 21 year old. There are almost no independent bottlings that feature Lagavulin whisky - as much as 98% of the spirit is earmarked for maturation as a single malt, and the distillery does not produce blends. The distillery's water source, Lochan Sholum, is situated 200m above sea level, and the water flows down the hillside through the peat - this water helps give the whisky its distinctive taste. Of the Islay whiskies, Lagavulin undergoes the slowest distillation - approximately five hours for the first distillation at the Wash still and more than nine hours for the second at the Spirit still.

But it is the Lagavulin 8 year old that catches my fancy, along with the 12 year old which is bottled at cask strength, 57.8%. 2016 was the 200th anniversary for Lagavulin, the start of which was marked by a special anniversary release: The Lagavulin 8 Years Old, chosen to honour the famous whisky travel writer Alfred Barnard. Visiting Islay in the 19th century he was delighted by an eight year old Lagavulin. This limited edition was matured in refill American oak and bottled at 48% ABV.

Nose: Immediately quite soft with clean, fresh notes, faint hints of milk chocolate and lemon – developing fragrant, tea-scented smoke alongside nose-drying, maritime aromas.

Body: Light, growing pleasantly oily. Palate A magnificently full on Lagavulin taste that’s somehow even bigger than you expect, and charred, with minty, dark chocolate.

Finish: A clean, long and smoky finish – subtle, minted smoke, chocolate tannins and finally, warming, leaving the palate dry as sweet smoke lingers on the breath.

The Balvenie Peat Week

The Balvenie isn’t known for peated whisky because the distillery just does one  exception called its Peated Triple Cask: In 1916, it released a new experiment in smoke called Peat Week. This was the brainchild of malt master David Stewart and former distillery manager Ian Miller, who came up with the concept in 2001 when they decided to distill some peated malt. 

Now the Balvenie devotes one week a year to infusing its barley with peat smoke–hence the name Peat Week–and may release future bottles of this style of whisky. It’s lightly smoky but doesn’t shy away from the flavour, with notes of toffee and vanilla from the long time the whisky spends in American oak. The distillery uses Speyside peat, giving the whisky a very different character to smoky drams from Islay: delicate and smoky.

Nose: Toasted oak with a hint of heather, stroopwafel and coffee, flamed orange peel and dry cedar.

Palate: Butterscotch, roasted apricot, a light touch of floral malt, grows enjoyably spicy as it develops.

Finish: Earthy peat lingers alongside runny honey notes.

Kilchoman Peated Classics

Kilchoman is a farm distillery, the smallest in Scotland, and it grows its own barley. It is a vatting of 5 to 6-year old whiskies matured in first-fill bourbon casks, married and then finished in Oloroso sherry butts for 4 weeks, which results in the creamy, sweet vanilla taste from the bourbon and dark chocolate and spice from the Oloroso. All of it is gorgeously layered with peat smoke. Machir Bay, named after the Islay’s most spectacular beach, is a vatting of Kilchoman whisky matured in both bourbon and sherry casks. The high proportion of bourbon barrels creates a distinct balance of classic Islay character and fresh floral complexity. 

Nose: Citrus zests, crumbly vanilla biscuits and layers of elegant peat smoke.

Palate: A generous burst of tropical fruit and dried raisin opens the palate. Warming smoke continues to waft playfully.

Finish: Sherried fruits and sprinkle of cracked black pepper.

Sanaig, named after an inlet on Islay’s rugged Atlantic cost, is a vatting of Kilchoman matured in both sherry and bourbon barrels. This sherry cask scotch whisky is matured in a high proportion of oloroso barrels, imparting a balance of dried fruits, dark chocolate and rich peat smoke into the spirit.

Look out for plenty of fruit and earthy peat coming through on this one, with a touch of dark chocolate-covered raisins.

Port Charlotte

Port Charlotte's long-awaited 10 year old, rich and smoky whisky made by the independently minded folks at Bruichladdich distillery on Islay. PC, as it's known to its friends, is heavily peated to 40ppm, putting it up with Islay's other heavy hitters. The first of two “ghost distilleries” on this list, a term which refers to a distillery which no longer exists, though examples of their craft can still be found on the market, often with many still in barrels. 

The resulting whisky is big and peaty with a maritime tang – the Bruichladdich team claims that it's because their warehouses are so close to the sea. With releases from parent company Bruichladdich, a rare Islay distillery in that it doesn’t use peat in the production of its own whiskies, Port Charlotte is a stellar example of traditionally peated whisky, and is one of the best peated whiskies money can buy if you’re after a classic example.

This 10 year old has been produced by a team with an ambition to make the ultimate “Islay” Islay whisky. A whisky made by people not software; a whisky watched over every day of its maturing life by those who made it; a whisky born of a community with a vision and a mission to kick start a single malt whisky revolution, this Port Charlotte 10 year old epitomises Bruichladdich.

Caol Ila 18 YO

Slightly south of Bunnahabhain lies the Caol Ila distillery, one of the more interesting offerings in terms of smoky Scotch, and the largest on Islay. A perceptive whisky critic once called Caol Ila 'Mr Consistent'. It is a fair assessment. A powerhouse it might be in terms of volume, but Caol Ila always seems to manage to hit the perfect balance between maturity and distillery character, no matter whether it is in official or independent bottlings.Though more than 85% of Caol Ila’s production goes towards blended whiskies such as the Johnnie Walker range and Black Bottle, what gets released as single malt expressions are oft-lauded as some of the best peated whisky in the world. Fruity, floral and peppery in nature, Caol Ila’s peat dances on the palate and leave a very clean, iodine-rich finish that makes the dram very likeable.

Caol Ila's distillery character manages to combine a fresh pear note, grassiness, a hint of juniper with distinct notes of the seashore – lobster shells, crab creels and gentle smoke Although it receives the same spec of malt as sister distillery Lagavulin, Caol Ila’s distillation regime –taller stills, longer fermentation, higher cut points– helps to reduce the heavy phenols. Maturation for the single malt is in refill casks. The unpeated variant is equally delicate with a fresh estery and almost floral lift.

Its importance for blends meant that until 2002, when a 12 YO was released, malt lovers had to seek out independent bottlings. Now there is a range including no-age-statement Moch, 12, 13, 18 and 25-year-old, a finished Distillers Edition and annual special releases. The peated 12 YO version is used mainly for Johnnie Walker Black Label, where the Talisker 12 YO provides the smoky feel.

The phenol impact of the magnificent Caol Ila 18 is calmed right down thanks to the lengthy ageing of Caol Ila 18 Year Old, yet with a peaty finish and oaky smooth taste, it is very much adored. A leafy and sweet palate with the grassy and herbal aromas makes for a perfect combination.

Bunnahabhain Mòine Oloroso
59.5% ABV Non-chill filtered Natural Colour

Created especially for Fèis Ìle 2018 (Islay Festival of Music and Whisky), this Limited Release of 1881 bottles combines smoky peatiness with sweet Spanish Oloroso sherry to create a distinctive Single Malt that's the perfect dram to celebrate Islay with.

Mòine is a peaty paradox on Bunnahabhain’s Single Malt, with a touch of smoke from  peated malted barley introduced during its creation. Translate the name of this special edition from Gaelic and Spanish, and you have 'scented peat'; which is exactly what you'd expect from an Islay malt maturing in Oloroso sherry casks for 11 years! The whisky remains non-age stated, but it is known that it is close to 12 years. Most products from this distillery are NAS, except its original creation of the 12 YO. Matured slowly in coastal warehouses, this dram delicately balances dried fruit with creamy toffee, honeyed nuts and driftwood smoke.

Deep rose gold in colour, its Nose reveals dried fruit, creamy toffee and chocolate blended with spicy, smoky peatiness.

The Palate is sweet, fills the mouth with fig and raisin, honeyed nuts, pepper and wood smoke and the finish is sweet, mildly smoky, long and lingering. It tastes like a gentler version of the Ardbeg Uigeadail, toffee and chocolate cake shine through with a smoke that doesn’t interfere with the sweetness.

GlenDronach Peated

In contrast to the traditional, non-peated character of the GlenDronach, this particular whisky has, unusually, been distilled using peated malted barley and GlenDronach has introduced their first ever peated expression to their range! The bottle pays homage to the peat historically used to dry the malted barley in the traditional floor matlings during the early days of the distillery. This expression was initially matured in bourbon casks before being transferred over to Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks, so it maintains some of the classic GlenDronach sherried "oomph", but with rich, smoky elements at its core. Subtly smoky, this has been aged using sherry casks, resulting in a floral, spicy and lightly smoky Highlander. 70cl, probably unchill-filtered at 46% ABV.

Nose: A delightful aroma of ripe gooseberries dusted with cinnamon sugar combines with a contrasting crisp citrus twist. The delicate peat influence gives a smouldering charred wood character filled with freshly ground barley and hints of vanilla toffee.

Palate: Vibrant oak spices and floral heather honey develop to rosehips and barley sugars, all warmed by a touch of white pepper. Subtle peat notes complement the palate by giving a delicate depth and dryness of glowing campfire embers.

Analysis: A unique marriage of crisp fruit and barley-laden Highland characteristics surrounded by gentle peat smoke, intriguingly reminiscent of heather burning in the distant glens.

anCnoc Peatheart

Throughout the Scottish uplands, most extensively in the north and west, you will find the heart of the peatlands.Remote and isolated yet rich in iconic wildlife, this environment rules the landscape and provides a valuable fuel for the whisky-making process.

Knockdhu Distillery, established in 1894, is one of the most enchanting in the Scottish Highlands. Bounded by an abundance of natural resources wonderfully suited to whisky making, the distillery lies in the shadow of nearby Knock Hill - home to springs of pure, clear water - and sits on the doorstep of a region rich in barley and peat. A natural resource, peat was historically embraced as fuel to fire the still and dry the barley for the distillation of whisky. It is traditionally cut by hand using several customary cutting tools. in 2003 at the Knockdhu Distillery, production using more heavily peated malt began. Under the watchful eye of the Distillery Manager – and after a few anxious moments – anCnoc Peaty emerged once more from the stills at Knockdhu. Once laid down in bourbon casks, it developed beautifully, creating the most remarkable malt. Dark peaty smokiness and light subtle flavours, as one.

anCnoc is a delicate whisky; expect light fruity aromas, ranging from citrus to sweet candy-fruity notes. Peatheart reflects these characteristics of anCnoc and with a big hit of peat. Peatheart uses barley malted to 40PPM, bottled at 46% ABV.

Colour: Pale amber.

Nose: An initial smoky burst surrenders to a surge of fruitiness. Ripe pears and the citrus notes of apples and limes with just a touch of tobacco in the background. The nose is balanced yet an undeniable smoky sweetness prevails.

Taste: Smoke laced with leather and sweet stewed apples. Chocolate is there too, perfectly complemented by sweet vanilla and zesty lemon.

Finish: The finish has a lingering warmth with a floral smokiness.