For Scotch whisky lovers, and indeed, whisky aficionados in general, Islay is so much more than just a whisky region. For many, it’s the ultimate whisky hotspot whereby a visit to it is not so much a visit, but more a religious pilgrimage.
As you can probably tell from the tone of this post today, I’m a huge fan of Islay and the whiskies produced in this exquisite whisky region of Scotland. Known as the Queen of the Hebrides, Islay epitomises everything there is to know and love about our beloved Scotch. It’s a region steeped in history, with gorgeous scenery, rugged coastlines, stunning beaches, amazing walks, friendly locals, and of course, truly exceptional whisky.
Islay whisky may well be up there with the best in the world, but it can also be quite polarising, largely due to the unique taste. While this isn’t the case for all whisky produced on the island, most of the drams distilled on Islay are renowned for their deep, complex, smoky, briny, medicinal notes. These notes are largely there courtesy of peat, and they’re certainly not for everyone.
To help understand why Islay whisky is like no other produced anywhere in the world, we’ll today be unpacking what it is about these peated drams that makes them so unique.
Plant Power – What is Peat and What Does it Smell Like?
Peat is a natural substance that forms over the course of thousands of years, if not longer. It is made primarily of compressed layers of organic plant matter such as heather, grass, and moss, which have been submerged in bodies of water known as peat bogs.
When this vegetation is submerged underwater, it is starved of oxygen, and so it rots and only partially decomposes at a much slower rate than it would on land. Much of Scotland, particularly its islands, is made up of moorlands and wetlands rather than woodlands, which can cause the ground to become saturated, flooded, and boggy. This serves as the perfect environment for peat to form.
As it breaks down, the organic matter forms dense layers of dark organic vegetation, often several metres deep, which can actually be harvested and cut into blocks to be used as fuel for a fire. Once dried and burned, these bricks of peat give off a rich, medicinal, mineral, herbal smoky aroma known as ‘peat reek’. It turns out that the aromas and compounds found in peat smoke can impart some truly unique flavours and aromas into whisky too.
It should be noted that peat found in different parts of Scotland imparts different flavours into the whisky. Peat made up of a higher concentration of heather, for example, provides stronger herbal and floral flavours, with fewer medicinal notes compared with Islay.
Why Are Islay Whiskies Primarily Peated?
As we looked at previously, much of Islay is made up of barren moorlands. Trees, at least in large numbers, are fairly scarce here. Back in the day, if you wanted to start a fire, ordinarily you’d use firewood. That’s all well and good, but what happens if you don’t have the trees necessary to turn into the wood? Well, in that case you improvise and look for alternative solutions. That’s precisely what the distilleries on Islay did, in the form of peat.
Even before the distilleries, settlers across Scotland were burning peat to provide heat for cooking, and simply surviving the harsh northern winters with. When whisky distilleries began producing Scotch on a large scale, they began heating their kilns with, you guessed it – peat.
As the harvested barley was soaked in water and then spread upon the floor to malt, it required heat from the kilns. As peat bricks were burned to provide the warmth needed for the barley to malt, the smoke rose and coated the grains in phenolic compounds, imparting those unique aromas we spoke about earlier. It’s basically the same principle as smoking meats or cheese, except this time, it’s grains of barley that are being smoked, rather than delicious savoury treats containing far too many calories.
Today, distilleries control the amount of peat they impart into their whiskies, and it is very much a case of style, rather than necessity. Back then, they had no choice. It just so happened that the flavour of the peat smoke worked wonderfully with the notes of the whisky. As time went by, consumers began associating smoky, medicinal whisky with Islay. Today, that remains the same.
Some of Islay’s most famous distilleries include:
- Laphroaig
- Lagavulin
- Ardbeg
- Bowmore
- Caol Ila
- Bruichladdich
- Bunnahabhain
Islay whiskies may be synonymous with peat and smoke, but that doesn’t mean that whiskies from other regions can’t be smoky. Even those from Speyside, which is renowned for being the polar opposite to Islay in terms of whisky flavours, can be smoky. The GreatDrams Strathmill 10 Year Old Smoky Speyside single malt, for example, features rich orchard fruit notes and honeyed malt, with a more-than-subtle hint of clean wood smoke.
Understanding PPM
Whisky produced on Islay centuries ago used peat primarily because they were forced to and had no alternatives. Fortunately for them, the smoky flavour that the peat bricks imparted tasted fantastic, and proved a huge hit with whisky drinkers across Scotland and beyond.
Modern distilleries are now lucky enough to choose whether to smoke their drams, and if so, what sort of smoke flavour they wish to impart, and how much smoke they actually want their consumers to taste. To understand that deep and complex peat smoke synonymous with Islay, however, it’s important to understand PPM, or Phenol Parts per Million.
Much like the heat intensity of a chilli pepper is measured in Scovilles, the intensity of peat is measured in PPM. There’s a fair bit of science involved here, but basically, PPM is a lab analysis which is performed to determine how many smoke-derived phenol compounds have managed to adhere to the malted grains of barley during the kilning process. The higher the PPM, the more intense the peat smoke flavour will be. Basically, it’s there to find out how much smoke stuck to, and was absorbed by, the barley.
Whiskies with a PPM of 0 – 1 are classed as unpeated. These are your typical Speyside drams, which tend to lean more into the fruity, sweet, and creamy side. Think typical releases from The Macallan and The Balvenie. Interestingly, Islay’s Bunnahabhain whisky is also classed as unpeated, which goes to show that not all drams distilled on Islay have to be smoke bombs.
Lightly peated drams feature a PPM of 1 – 10. They feature a very subtle undertone of peat smoke. With PPMs of this amount, it’s unlikely that you’ll pick up any prominent coastal or medicinal notes. Rather than dominating the palate, the smoke instead provides a subtle hint of peat in the background.
Whisky with a PPM of between 10 – 30 is generally considered to be a medium peated dram. These are the ones where you pick up stronger smoke, with additional gentle medicinal notes and a light earthiness, coupled with things such as orange blossom honey, heather, and citrus. For those looking for a medium peated dram, Bowmore is an exceptional drop.
Finally, for those looking for a heavily peated whisky featuring prominent smoky, briny, medicinal, maritime notes, drams featuring a PPM of 30 or above are considered to be heavily peated. It’s here, where many of Islay’s distilleries make their presence felt in the whisky world. Lagavulin and Laphroaig for example, consistently sit at between 35 – 50 PPM on average. Ardbeg, however, pushes the smoke further still, with a core range sitting somewhere between 50 and 55 PPM.
For a seriously intense smoke experience though, Bruichladdich’s Octomore takes the crown. This super-heavily peated whisky is the most heavily peated dram on the planet, with PPM levels of between 100 – 200. They even released a dram, Octomore 8.3, which measured a record-breaking PPM of 309.1! It had tasting notes including burnt rubber, dirty smoke, oil, and campfire smoke, coupled with more pleasant-sounding ones such as orange, cherry blossom, vanilla custard, and raspberry jam.
Read the full article at Peated Whisky 101 – Breaking Down Islay Whiskies for Beginners
