Unpeated scotch

[Taggerung]

Are there any unpeated single malts? If not, what's a decent single malt that has minimal peat?

-Tim

[sku]

Glengoyne bills itself as the only unpeated single malt. I'm not sure if that is true, but there are many, many malts that have only trace amounts of peat (under 5ppm). The traditional Speyside and Lowland whiskies are unpeated. Many highlanders are either nonpeated or only mildly peated. To name just a few: Macallan, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Blavenie, Glenrothes, Dalwhinnie, Auchentoshan, Glenkinchie, Bunnahabhain are just a few.

Most single malts have very low levels of peat. It is a relative few that have high peat levels.

[OscarV]

Tim let me recommend an Irish whisky, Tyrconnell.
If you tased it blind you would say that it was an unpeated scotch.
It is available in the mitten.

[Taggerung]

Yeah, the problem is I got a bit ahead of myself in my whisky tasting...

I was at a pub and spotted Highland Park 12 on their list of available scotches. I'd heard good things and wanted to try it, but they were out (or couldn't find it). They also had another scotch I'd heard much about and was curious about...Laphroaig 10. It tasted like something filtered through a gauze at the dentist. Now I just smell scotch and I think of that taste.

[AVB]

Laphroaig is not usually for the novice and the 10 yo can be a bit of a shock if you didn't know what you were getting into.

[Gov]

Glenmorangie 10 year. Very good scotch and hardly no peat!

[Yellowjacket]

As stated above, try the Glengoyne for absolutely no peat. The lowland Glenkinchie also has no or very little peat. I think a Cragganmore (a Speyside) is very, very good and has no noticeable peat. For Irish whiskey, try a Knappogue Castle - very good.

Bob

[drunkenjayhawk]

For Irish I would second the Knap - at the vintage 94 was great. But as the others have said almost any lowland and speyside malt will do for minimal to very low peat/smoke. Don't give up on sms yet- there are so many distilleries and expressions from each for that.

[boss302]

Are there any unpeated single malts? If not, what's a decent single malt that has minimal peat?

-Tim

Hi Tim,

You might want to start with some Lowland malts. There are only three currently producing, but all 3 have something good going for them. Glenkinchie 10-year is an excellent starting point if you like something older and more complex. The smoothest would probably have to be Auchentoshan, as it is triple-distilled. I just bought a bottle of 15-year Bladnoch, but it is very hard to find whisky from that distillery-- its production seems to be pretty sporadic.

Venturing into the Highland malts, you will probably like Glenmorangie, Dalwhinnie, Balvenie, and Cragganmore.

The majority of Highland Scotch whiskies are very low in peat, so something like Glenfiddich should actually be up your alley.

You will probably want to steer clear of the Island malts, like Highland Park, Talisker, or any of the Islay malts. Though I will note that Scapa, from the same island as Highland Park, keeps their malt very low in peat. Their current expression is a 14-year and it is absolutely luscious!

[sku]

And of course, there are even some fairly unpeated Islays: Bunnahabhain and most of the Bruichladdichs. I think Caol Ila did an unpeated version as well, though most Caol Ilas have peat.