Advice please

Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Octomore.

Andreas

The short answer is Ardbeg.

Most of the peatiness of a whisky comes from the peat smoke used in drying the sprouted barley during malting of the grain. This is measured in parts per million, and figures given for the South shore Islay malts are typically something like 35ppm for Laphroaig and Lagavulin and 50ppm for Ardbeg. But these are nominal values for what is actually a range, so sometimes you will see numbers like 30ppm or 40ppm for Laphroaig or Lagavulin.

Another important factor is the age of a malt. The same whisky will taste peatier when it's young than it will when it's very old, but age will add all sorts of other complex flavors to it, and a very young Islay will often be one-dimensional. Also bottling strength is important: the same whisky will seem less intensely peated after you add water, so 43%, or 46%, or higher will seem peatier than a 40% ABV bottling.

Less important sources for the peatiness of the whisky are the water used during mashing (although I've seen some knowledgible people dispute that) and the previous use of the barrel if it's a refill cask. Balvenie, for instance, has a whisky which uses casks previously used to age Islay whisky to add an extra peatiness to it's lightly peated malt.

Subjectively, on your palate, you may find Lagavulin or especially Laphroaig seem peatier than Ardbeg. Some bottles of Laphroaig seem very "medicinal" and that can be an intense flavor - but other bottles seem mild even compared to Lagavulin, let alone Ardbeg.

Not yet on the shelves but coming in a few years are some heavy hitters now or just recently being distilled. Octomore, from the Bruichladdich distillery, uses a malt peated to 65ppm, and someone

- I think it might be Edradour but don't recall off the top of my head - is trying for 80ppm. If these ever make it to the market as singles (and I expect they will) we wont see them for five to ten years.

You've tried Lagavulin, and not only is it one of the peatiest malts available, it's also one of the deepest most complex Islays of the common standard issues. Among common Islay whiskies only maybe the Bowmore 17 is as complex - but it isn't nearly as peaty.

Try the Ardbeg 10 for the most peat smoke and the Laphroaig 10 is also a good choice. (Laphroaig has a cask strength version, but it isn't available where I live. If it is in your market, go for that.)

Others worth trying are Caol Ila, from Islay, and Talisker from the Isle of Skye. Port Ellen is very good, but it's been closed for so long that it is hard to find and what is available is expensive. Bowmore is another Islay worth trying. It's available in lots of different versions but quality seems to vary more than with the others. It's also not quite as peaty as the others. Then there's Longrow, made in Campbelton at the Springbank distillery. It's delicious. It's more widely available than Port Ellen, but tends to be just as expensive. There's also an Irish whiskey that's well peated - Connemara - and it's worth trying if you like Irish whiskey as well as Scotch. That pretty much covers the peatiest whiskies. There are a few more, but they are rare and hard to find, like certain Broras and others.

I think you'll be happy with the Ardbeg 10. But it's really hard to beat the Lagavulin 16 for it's depth and complexity.

Bart

...and welcome to the conversation. Let us know what you discover!

Well, thankyou! I hadn't expected such a comprehensive reply - or such a knowledgeable one!

I can't wait to try Ardbeg - I'll let you know when I have!

Jon

And Black Bottle.

Actually it is as high as 80.5 ppm according to their web-site. They are also making a less peated malt called Port Charlotte at 40 ppm. I have nosed a sample of each, but the peat-smoke seems to be almost the same But maturing can change that.

Yes they call it Ballechin after another long gone distillery nearby. They are maturing it in different casks, sherry, madeira, port pipes

It is said to be 50ppm, they dry the barley for 36 hours using peat smoke only. (Springbank gets 6 hours peat smoke and 30 hours hot air. The new hazelburn gets 36 hours hot air only)

You forgot Ledaig from Mull. Less peaty than Islay malts, but still peaty. Not so much medicinal, since it is matured on the mainland.

That is so true, but I got a Caol Ila, that is near very near. A G & M cask strength 1990. And also some Cadenhead and MMcD Laphroaig and Ardbeg. But of course independent bottlers can be harder to get.

Yes, you're right.

wooster ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com) posted a news story on 2003-07-10 entitled "Reviving Distilleries" that says the same thing. It was a news story from the Financial Times (London) published on June

14, 2003.

"Why not distil a second spirit, and a third? That's exactly what Bruichladdich has done with Port Charlotte, using malt containing 40 parts per million phenols (this being the way the industry measures "peatiness") and now Octomore. The latter is set to be the peatiest whisky at 80.5ppm phenols."

It goes on to claim Edradour's new malt will be at 50ppm but doesn't call it by name. I wish I had googled it before I posted. But that's the virtue of a public forum: someone will correct you if you're mistaken.

I don't know where I got 65ppm for Octomore from now, my fallible memory and all, but I'm certain I read it somewhere, and that Port Charlotte was in Bowmore territory rather than Laga's and Laphroaig's. I could be wrong though. Likewise I remember reading that Ballechin would be peatier than 50ppm - so take my claim with a grain of salt; I could be off on that one too. But whether they're 50, or 65, or

80ppm they will all be very peaty whiskies.

There seems to be a little competition to claim the title of 'Peatiest Whisky of Them All' now. Like that extra half of a ppm for Octomore. I expect Ardbeg to up the ante soon too, when they get around to it. No complaints from me - I look forward to trying them all. But I'm almost a little disappointed that Port Charlotte is in that range. The most neglected type right now seems to be the medium peated whiskies, between the extremes of Islay and the 2 to 3ppm in the typical Highland and Speyside whiskies. Ledaig is sometimes one of those. I've never seen figures for the peatiness of the malt they use, but my tastebuds tell me some of the bottlings are medium peated. The 20yo from a few years ago seemed less peaty than the

15yo - don't know if that was just age but I think it was less peaty whisky to start with. I've heard there were some very well peated bottlings of Ledaig, maybe some Cadenheads, but I haven't tasted them. And Ardmore, Clynelish, Glen Garioch, even Highland Park have made some moderately peaty malts, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Some of these are hard to find (at least in the USA); for some it's hard to find the specifically peaty bottles.

Thanks for this info. This is interesting. I'll try to remember this.

I haven't had that Caol Ila, but I've had a G&M CC Caol Ila at

40% that was very good. Caol Ila seems to have made a wider variety of styles than most of the Islay distilleries, but maybe I just get that impression because I've only had it from independent bottlers, and they typically vary more than owner's bottlings. When you find a good one, it can be just as good as Lagavulin. UDV could, maybe should, promote it more. We could use an official bottling on the shelves in the USA, for instance. I suppose they just don't want to distract attention from Lagavulin. But with Laga in short supply now, if there ever was a time to introduce Caol Ila, now is it. Of course, I don't know what the supply of Caol Ila is either - there may be similar age gaps there too. But a 10yo or a 12yo would seem achievable...

Bart

Cadenhead bottling of Ledaig is not the same as the distillery bottled malt. In fact it's the Tobermory malt which means very low peat level. They are using the old name for the distillery, which the distillery uses for the peated malt. Quite confusing isn't it?

Just referred the information told at the tour at Springbank earlier this year.

Caol Ila is the biggest distillery on Islay measured in production, and the least known. Their malt seems to mainly go into blends. But 3 official bottlings are available. A 12 y, 18 y and a CS. They are replacing a 15 y, that used to be. Just emptied mine, bought on Talisker 2 years ago. The 12 y is more peaty than the 15 y. I have the 18y too, but haven't opened it yet. Must finish some of my open bottles before that

When I was at Isle of Jura this autumn, we were presented with the malt they used for theire most peated whisky, it held approx 60ppm (if my mind isn't failing me completely). But unfortunately this whisky isn't available for anybody, since it's used in the Isle of Jura Superstition. About 13% of the whisky in this edition is the very peated one, while rest is ordinary Jura-whisky (unpeated). You can really taste the peat in it, and I would love to get a bottle of pure peated Jura-whisky (since I don't like the unpeated version, but the Superstition is drinkable).

My nearly gone CI 15 is one of my favourites and I'll be sad to see it go. I've an 18 ready to open but the last time I tried it it wasn't a patch on the 15. Ah well, any other thoughts on the 15 and 18?

I sampled both of the spirits. Then the Octomore was much peatier, much more dry bareley with nice hints of fruits.

Andreas

I'm sure, you're right, unfortunately I didn't taste them, only allowed a quick nosing.

I recon, I get to taste the Port Charlotte, when visiting "laddie" next time, since a couple of us have laid one PC barrel down this year. And I will try to get a sample of Octomore too.

It might still be another 6-8 years before we can but the two peated "laddies"

"Rajmund M." wrote

You've got a point there. Seems to me, that more and more are going for more peaty malts. Even on the mainland like the coming Ballechin from Edradour. A speyside malt finished in ex-Islay cask, A jura partly using peated malt, etc.

As you say not a bad thing, when one happen to be a peat freak, but if they sacrifice the complexity at the same time, they might loose customers going for that.

At the same time the OB Laphroaig seems to be less pungent. That is why I am now going for the independents, especially Cadenhead and Murray McDavid. Someone in another forum, suggested that the chill-filtering was to blame for Laph being less pungent. Well chill-filtering sure is a bad thing, but I doubt, that it is the only cause.

-- Slainte Karl Ejnar

Just to emphasize this point here is the taste notes from Cadenhead

Ledaig Island Age 10 Year 1992 Alcohol % 58.20 Nose Seaweed, damp oak, yet it has a heavyness about it. Cardamon, lemongrass, vanilla and more. Palate None of the expected seaweed or salt. An all round fine example of an _unpeated_ Island malt which lingers around the palate like a clean dry wine. Price 50.00 euro

-- Slainte Karl Ejnar

This is not one of the Cadenhead's I had in mind.

The ones I was thinking of were bottled about the time this one was distilled. I looked to see if Michael Jackson mentioned them, but there were no Cadenhead Ledaigs listed at all in the

3rd and 4th editions, which are the editions I have, so that didn't help.

If I remember correctly, Tobermory was closed for a while in the

1980's. When the whisky was reintroduced, it was first a vatted malt - then a NAS bottling - and has since acquired an age statement.

The old Cadenheads would have been from production before the distillery was (temporarily) closed. Those are the ones I recall as being described to me as peaty - but again, I didn't taste them myself and what is "peaty" to one person may be mild to another.

Bart

Jon, if you're still reading this...

(and everyone else as well)

Nothing energizes the malt lovers like talk about the peatiest whiskies!

While it's common to hear whiskies described as too "woody" or too "oaky", and you occasionally hear a whisky described as too sherried (though I tend to think such whiskies are not "too sherried" but rather "poorly sherried" in a phrase I've adopted from Johanna); you almost never hear whiskies described as "too peaty".

No wonder the producers are falling over themselves to make peatier and peatier whiskies. And since I too have yet to meet a whisky I'd call too peaty, I couldn't be happier about that!

Bart

Unfortunately for Islay lovers in the USA, none of these whiskies are offered here, to the best of my knowledge. Nor are any of the whole Flora and Fauna range.

But Caol Ila is well represented in independent bottlings. Cadenhead's, G & M, Cooper's Choice, Vintage Malt Whisky Co, and dozens of versions by Signatory. Other indies are also available in the USA, but not on my local stores shelves.

Bart