"Light" single Malts?

I'm new to this newsgroup and somewhat new to Whisky. I've experienced some single malts and blends, but I'm far from being an expert. My current favorites are Highland Park and Tullamore Dew. I'm planning my purchases for New Years and I've gotten a friend to buy me a bottle off Auchentoshan 10 Years. As I am not a current fan off smokey, peaty whiskys have I bought a good brand? I would like some input from the experts that I believe "hang around" this NG :-)

Magnus

Reply to
Magnus N
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Hi Magnus

Auchentoshan is indeed a "light" malt

The reason for this could be (or most certainly is) that Auchentoshan is triple destilled.

Other "light" whiskyes to look out for could be Glen Morangie, Glen Garioch, Glengoyne, Scapa, Rosebank, Glenkinchie, Glen Moray and Glenfiddich IMHO

Whiskies that have been peated, stored in sherry cask (or rum, port, madeira...) or given a finish in such casks often comes out more intense. High level alcohol also gives you a more intense whisky. A 40% whisky is diluted from cask strength (thats about 60%) and it's not only the ethanol that's diluted but also all the ingredients in the whisky

But you also note that Highland Park is one of your favourites. That whisky is actually more smoky than most other whiskies. And it contains its part of sherry-cask matured whisky. So maybe it's just the very heavily peated whiskies you should avoid and they are very few :

Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Caol Ila, Lagavulin, Talisker and Bowmore

But which whiskies are peated and which are not peated get's more and more complicated these days. Some distilleries do a peaty version on the side - Longrow from Springbank, Ledaig from Tobermory and Port Charlotte and Octomore from Bruichladdich. Some distilleries do some peaty stuff and vat it, like in Isle of Jura's Superstition - which is a mix of normal unpeated Isle of Jura and minor parts of younger peated Isle of Jura. Benriach are putting out some peaty stuff these days and I know that Bunnahabhain and Edradour are experimenting with peat as well. As peat whisky are popular and matures fast we will probably see peated whisky from more distilleries

Glenfiddich and Balvenie has added the smokiness to some of their whiskies by giving it a finish on x-Islay casks. These I consider to be very very lightly smoked (or peaty - I use the words peaty and smoky arbitrarely but always mean the same - SMOKE)

When UDV was shining up Caol Ila in the beginning of the seventies they were and in shortage of peated whisky and produced a lot of that at Brora, so Brora from 1972-1973 (I don't remember the years exactly) are also peaty. There's also peated whisky from Loch Lomond called Croftengea. I think it was produced only for 1 or 2 years around 1992. It's hard to find - but SMWS have done a bottling recently

And something to point out : Ardbeg is actually a very light whisky but also very peated....so light is not the first thing in your mind having a sip of that

I think I left the intial subject again.......

Slainthe Steffen

Reply to
Steffen Bräuner

Other light malts: Arran, Dalwhinnie, Bushmills Malt (Irish), Glen Breton (Canadian Single Malt), Glen Keith, Tamdhu.

I like David Wishart's classification, as it helps me, a relative newbie. Others may disagree. His book is well done, and I'm glad to have it in my collection.

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Doug.

Reply to
Doug Ratz

Glenkinchie is light but delicious and interesting.

Reply to
Brett...

i wouldn't describe the older glen garioch bottlings as light. they are strongly peated for a speyside whisky. but compared to an islay it is light ;)

Reply to
Rafael Imelmann

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