What's the peatiest, smokiest scotch?
i love lagavulin, talisker, laphroig, oban, mccallan. what are the other peaty, smokey scotches out there?
yussdov
May 29, 2009 05:31PM
33 Replies so Far
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I'd have to vote for Laphroaig as being #1 on the peat smoke scale, but Macallan?
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Ardbeg, Caol Ila. Not Macallan. I had the Ardbeg Uigeadail at a festival and thought it tasted like licking a campfire (and I like smoky scotch).
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Well, technically speaking, the Scotch with the highest concentration of peat is Bruichladdich Octomore, weighing in at 130 ppm (parts per million) of peat phenols. Second would be Ardbeg Supernova at 100 ppm. Those are both quite hard to find and pricey though.
For something more affordable and accessible, you might want to try Ardbeg 10 (or really, any Ardbeg, but the 10 is the best bang for your buck), Bruichladdich Peat or Smokehead.
http://recenteats.blogspot.com/2009/0...
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You could also try "The Peat Monster" from Compass Box and "The Smokey Peaty One" from Jon, Mark & Robbo.
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I've tried "The Peat Monster" and boy, is it peaty, and I don't mind that, but I found it otherwise thin, rather unbalanced. All peat with not enough support, if you will. JMO.
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You may like Caol Ila then, It's a bit stronger than Peat monster and more put together. However, it's more smoke than peat, almost like inhaling a barbecue
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Connemara 12 Year from Ireland might interest you too...
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I'll second the Connemara, I search out bars and restaurants that have it.
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Ardbeg, Caol Ila, and Springbank are all fantastic! As are Talisker, Oban and Lagavulin. Laphroaig is a bit too motor oily for me, but I love their quarter cask. Octomore is definitely the most peaty! You can smell it from across the room. I love the way it tastes and smells, but I think Supernova is much more interesting. It's got good balance of multiple flavors. Octomore is peat, peat and more peat! Smokehead is tasty too. A little oily. Blackadder's bottling of Peat Reek is fantastic! I think Peat Monster is as monstrous as a mouse. Ditto for Bruichladdich Peat. My latest favorite dram is Ardbeg Corryvrecken, which is neither the peatiest of smokiest, but it is darn tasty!
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Ack, I want some Corryvrecken. You must have taken a trip overseas (or have friends there or live there or something).
I agree with you on Peat Monster, not too monstrous to my tastes.
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Nope...just got good friends with very good collections. Oh...Corryvrecken....
Check out these collections:
http://tinyurl.com/l5gawe
and
http://tinyurl.com/nf3op8
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Of those you listed : talisker.
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I had my first dram of Talisker just last night. While it was very tasty, I did not find it especially smokey or peaty. It was certainly no where near Laphroig in that regard.
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Was this the 18 year old? ... which I've always found quite distinct.
Peat aside, some guests have found its nature a bit too forward
(i.e. not as "nuanced" and approachable as ... say ... Balvenie Double Wood).
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No, I am quite sure it was not the Talisker 18-year old. I am pretty sure it was the standard Talisker, which is probably either 10 or 12 years old.
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I vote for Laphroaig 10 year old. It is my favorite. It is certainly smoky, has wonderful peat character with their bogs and water fought over for many years.
Most of Laphroaig's production is used in giving deep base notes to the top blended whiskey brands. This alone tells me Laphroaig has the best smoke and peat character in the industry. If it was not the best, the major brands would place their bets elsewhere.
While certainly a smooth whiskey delivering an awesome liquid smoke and peat taste, it also delivers more. In particular, the 10 year old has a brash and young character to it as well. This is a difficult feat for a single malt and akin to a high wire act without a net. So far Laphroaig has never fallen.
Laphroaig's neighbor Lagavulin on the Isle of Islay, is a poor imitation of Laphroaig. Lagavulin is smoky and peaty somewhat, but pulls its punch, perhaps in an attempt to be both the coolest kid in class as well as the most laid back and refined I think many of us can remember a lot of such schoolyard failures.
For me Laphroaig is the standard, not only for smoke and peat, but also for balance and its fantastic feat of tasting of the sea from which it was born.
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There's not really a best or smokiest single malt, since it's an aquired taste and not all taste buds act the same, One can only opine as what's his mos favorite/s smoky single malt, I find Laphroaig as very good but remedy taste like single malt. Lagavulin is in my personal opinion the best smoky single malt, with a terrific after taste.
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What do people think of Bowmore? I just started drinking it--it was my first Scotch with that peat flavor--and it was a revelation.
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I love Bowmore except for the 17 yr, which I bought and can't drink. It tastes bitter and almost spoiled to me. The 15 yr was one of my favorites for a while.
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I was introduced to Bowmore this summer, and really liked it. I tend to like Laphroig, Lagavulin and Talisker. The last counts for me as more peppery than smoky.
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I am new to whiskies, and am slowly trying to build up a collection of realy good, peaty examples (I dont realy like unpeated whisky at all) So far I think Lagavulin 16yo is the nicest, most balanced I have found, and BenRiach Curiositas is the most powerfully peaty in taste and smell. Biggest disapointment so far has been Laphroaig Quater Cask. On that note, has anyone tried the Ardmore, and what did they think of it?
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The standard Ardmore is very nice, lightly peated and sweet. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but it's not the monster that Lagavulin or Laphroaig is.
http://recenteats.blogspot.com/2008/1...
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Your trophy should be the limited(?) release Ardbeg Supernova. It is scientifically the peatiest scotch by far and an incredibly elegant sip.
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Trying to line up a bottle for christmas!
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Laphroaig Quarter Cask gets my vote.
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I like the Quater Cask a great deal, looking forward to getting a Laphroaig 10 year old to compare it to. The Laphroaig cask strength is supposed to be something pretty special, but I havent been able to track it down in Australia.
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No one has mentioned Highland Park single malts? I am not a scotch person; my SO is, and so I have tasted many single malts, trying to understand the characteristics he likes. HP came to mind immediately when I read the subject of this thread.
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That strikes me as rather odd - I love Highland Park, but in part because it's more floral and not nearly so peaty as some of the ones mentioned above. Lagavulin, for example - one sip and I feel like I've been upholstered in leather.
Ah, just reread your post - you don't actually drink the stuff yourself. That explains it.
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Maybe so. When I said that I am not a single malt drinker doesn't mean that I haven't tried a number of them out of curiosity. Even liquors I don't love, I can still taste and detect differences. I have actually tasted various Highland Parks, as well as other single malts and thought the smoke and peaty notes were very pronounced in the HPs.
Apparently, according to what you write, a HP is not as pronounced as a Lagavulin (or perhaps any of the others previously mentioned).
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I havent tried Highland park, but I have found a fair few reviews that call it Smoky, rather than Peaty. Now I have to find it and try some!
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People do talk about smoke in HP, but it's very much relative. Compared to many Islays, HP is not smokey or peaty. Compared to many Highlands, it has smoke. But when people are talking about smokey or peaty malts (especially in the context of the "peatiest, smokiest scotch"), the relative-to-Highlands smoke is not usually what they mean.
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I am a huge fan of the Islay malts, and bought my first Talisker the other day based on reports of how powerful and smokey it is.... was somewhat disapointed to find it a reasonably tasty, but smoke free and largely emmasulated dram.
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Exactly what I'm talking about. If you're thinking of Laphroaig, Ardbeg, and Lagavulin, and even Bowmore, you're going to have a similar reaction to HP. Although HP is very good (and I personally like HP more than Talisker).
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Exactly what I'm talking about. If you're thinking of Laphroaig, Ardbeg, and Lagavulin, and even Bowmore, you're going to have a similar reaction to HP. Although HP is very good (and I personally like HP more than Talisker).