Need Help Expanding My Horizons

[Jackinbox]

I've been dabbling in Scotch a little bit and am looking for new things to try. I know the traditional wisdom is to start with the more mild, less smoky malts and work your way into the Islay malts. I actually had the opposite experience as I tried Glenlivet 12 about a year ago and didn't much care for it at all. I went back to bourbon and didn't think much of it until I was at a friend's house who insisted I try a dram of his Ardbeg 10. I fell in love with it immediately and picked up a bottle. He suggested I also try Laphroaig 10, which I did and liked that one slightly more.

A few observations:

- I've purchased some of the other expressions of Ardbeg and Laphroaig: Laphroaig Cask Strength, Laphroaig Quarter Cask, Ardbeg Uigeadail. These are nice, but surprisingly I find that I enjoy the standard 10-year bottlings better than the more expensive ones. I'm thinking the higher alcohol content is somewhat overpowering the peat and smoke. With bourbon, I find I generally prefer higher proof, but that hasn't been the case with Scotch.

- I do really enjoy the Ardmore Traditional Cask and find it to be a great value for under $30. I know it's not an Islay, but it seems to have that smoky profile that I like.

- Last week I tried a sample of Talisker 10 which reportedly has a higher ppm than Ardmore but I tasted very little smoke. I can appreciate it for it's complexity, but it wasn't really what I was looking for.

- I do enjoy Lagavulin. It's very good malt with a balanced profile, albeit somewhat pricey.

- Some of my Scotch drinking friends have said I probably wouldn't like Caol Isla, Bowmore or Kilchoman as those contain very little peat. Another friend thought I might even like Teacher's Blended Scotch.

So I guess my question is, what would you guys recommend I try next? I'm always looking to try something new, but perhaps there's just not many malts out there that have that particular profile that I really enjoy.

[squire]

Of course peat can stand out like Cayenne pepper in a gumbo. For me it's not the amount of peat and smoke, rather the balance of them in the mix and for me some hit it and some are near misses because they lack sufficient counterpoint.

The range is broad though, have you tried Connemara which is a peated single from Ireland.

[garbanzobean]

Ignore your friends re: Caol Ila. It is peated to the same ppm (35 ish) as Lagavulin (and in fact is the same malted barley as Lagavulin), and the 12 year old expression is quite good. I wouldn't really call it a value malt, but it can be had on sale occasionally. Also, don't be afraid to water your whisky. Cask strength peated whisky needs water to open up. Your friends are also incorrect about Kilchoman, though it needs some air time to open up and dissipate some of that "young spirit hotness". Look into some of the Port Charlotte bottlings too.

Edit: Springbank and Longrow might also give you what you're looking for.

Edited July 1, 2014 by garbanzobean

[BootsOnTheGround]

Glenmorangie offers some good training wheels.

The peat blast you get up your nostrils is actually a phenolic and there can be many errors that show up in the nose and taste along with it. Burnt rubber, cleaning solution, band-aids, fake movie theater popcorn butter, etc. You just have to take your time and recognize where your tastes lie and what "good" whiskey is.

Ralfy's videos have helped me quite a bit. Not that I think he has some amazing palate - everyone can taste as long as they're not all clogged up - but that he's had is face in a lot of whiskey over the years and is honest about his experience.

Edited July 1, 2014 by BootsOnTheGround

[garbanzobean]

Good call on Ralfy's youtube channel. He's really helped further my malt education, and his videos are generally quite entertaining to boot.

[maybeling]

Despite the young age of the distillery and the whisky, I would strongly recommend Kilchoman. Grab either the "100% Islay" or the "Machir Bay" expressions.

Edited July 2, 2014 by maybeling

[GaryT]

I had a similar experience - hadn't really ever liked Scotch until I tried an Islay single malt (for me it was Laphroaig 10yr), and I fell in love with how completely different it was from anything else. I kept trying others and didn't find much I really liked at first, but I've since really enjoyed some that aren't really peaty/smokey at all. Have you tried any port-wood finishes? Or sherried casks? One of the more recent items I've found I really like is Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban (12 yr that spent the last 2 in port pipes). I was able to try it for cheap as well (the stores had this "Discovery Pack" for $30 which included the Glenmorangie 10yr Original and 3 minis of different other offerings).

On the peat side though, you may want to try Compass Box Peat Monster.

[Wee Robbie]

I agree re the Caol Ila 12. It is very good. Ralfy recommended it to me as a good option for Islay whisky. I tried it and it has become a favourite dram. A nice balanced smokey peated scotch. Get some new friends (just joking)

[jvd99]

This making me want to revisit my SMWS Port Charlotte tonight

[Jackinbox]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions!

The range is broad though, have you tried Connemara which is a peated single from Ireland.

I have not. The only Irish Whiskey I've tried was some sort of Annniversary Bottling of Bushmills. I did like that one quite a bit.

Ignore your friends re: Caol Ila. It is peated to the same ppm (35 ish) as Lagavulin (and in fact is the same malted barley as Lagavulin), and the 12 year old expression is quite good. I wouldn't really call it a value malt, but it can be had on sale occasionally. Also, don't be afraid to water your whisky. Cask strength peated whisky needs water to open up. Your friends are also incorrect about Kilchoman, though it needs some air time to open up and dissipate some of that "young spirit hotness". Look into some of the Port Charlotte bottlings too.

OK, Caol Ila sounds like it might be the next one I try.

Edit: Springbank and Longrow might also give you what you're looking for.

I was doing some reading about Campbeltown malts and they indeed sound very intriguing. I'm going to try one of these as well.

Glenmorangie offers some good training wheels.

Would you recommend starting with Original or something else?

Have you tried any port-wood finishes? Or sherried casks?

I did try a Macallan 12-year that was sherry-finished the other day. While I didn't taste any smoke, I did enjoy the sherry influence. I'm unfamiliar with port-wood but will definitely research that some more.

I agree re the Caol Ila 12. It is very good. Ralfy recommended it to me as a good option for Islay whisky. I tried it and it has become a favourite dram. A nice balanced smokey peated scotch. Get some new friends (just joking)

Ha. The Caol Ila 12 sounds like a winner. I'm definitely going to grab one of those.

I really appreciate the recommendations from everyone. Just one more quick question.....

Are "peat" and "smoke" entirely different things? I'm still confused as to why the Ardmore has a much lower ppm than Talisker 10, yet tastes much closer to the profile of an Ardbeg than the Talisker does.

[garbanzobean]

Smokiness is generally derived from peat, and the two are certainly related, but they are not always found together. For instance, I perceive the peat in laphroaig 18 to be phenolic, medicinal, and briny, not really smoky. Some folks perceive other flavors that are not caused by peat influence to be "smoky." I notice it occasionally in sherry and port finished whisky that is mostly or entirely unpeated, but it's not really smoke in the same sense as Ardbeg smoke. Additionally, not all peat and peat-smoked malted barley is created equal. Port Ellen Maltings on Islay provides the vast majority of barley for Islay distilleries, and they generally seem to work with clients to provide them with malted barley peated to a wide range of levels. My understanding is that the malted barley that becomes Caol Ila and Lagavulin is all the same. My understanding is that Ardbeg, laphroaig, Kilchoman, Bruichladdich/Port Charlotte, and even Connemara (which I personally hate) use at least some Port Ellen Maltings barley, though they all specify barley that has been smoked to different ppm. Springbank distillery does their own malting, and they appear to use peat from Campbelltown, which provides very different characteristics to the spirit vs. Islay peat. I don't get a lot of "smoke" flavor from Springbank, but there is no mistaking the peat phenolic peat influence. Longrow is peated to about the same level as Laphroaig (around 55ppm), but again, the campbelltown peat influence is very different. Talisker and Highland Park, two other non-Islay generally available peated whiskies, aren't as far off Islay characteristics as Springbank is, but they are certainly different. I don't know where they get their barley (or the peat that is used to smoke the barley) from though. For all I know, it could all come from Port Ellen, but who knows.

Another interesting tidbit is that most, if not all, of Diageo's distilleries actually age their whisky in a centralized facility owned by Diageo. So the idea that most Islay whisky picks up brine and other characteristics generally associated with peat flavors as they age on Islay is either not true or Diageo is doing some interesting stuff to the casks as they age.

Here's a Ralfy video on the subject of peat:

Edited July 5, 2014 by garbanzobean

[maybeling]

Great information Eric. At the risk of sounding like too much of a fanboy, I believe Kilchoman does grow at least some of their own barley (for use in their 100% Islay bottlings) and do their own malting, not sure if all or not.http://kilchomandistillery.com/our-farm-distillery/barley-malting-kilning

And agree completely re: Springbank characteristics being distinct from peatiness present in many Islay whiskys. It's always struck me as an oily industrial smokiness that's either off putting or interesting depending on the individual.

[garbanzobean]

Great information Eric. At the risk of sounding like too much of a fanboy, I believe Kilchoman does grow at least some of their own barley (for use in their 100% Islay bottlings) and do their own malting, not sure if all or not.http://kilchomandistillery.com/our-farm-distillery/barley-malting-kilning

And agree completely re: Springbank characteristics being distinct from peatiness present in many Islay whiskys. It's always struck me as an oily industrial smokiness that's either off putting or interesting depending on the individual.

I'm a big Kilchoman fan as well. Probably going to pick up their most recent Loch Gorm next week. I have been trying to get my local shop to buy a cask since I believe they offer single casks, but I don't think they're going to go for it until Kilchoman has older spirit.

Edit: I believe I have the same information you do RE: Kilchoman and their malt. They state which bottlings are their own farm to bottle efforts, and which ones have PE maltings in them to supplement their supply of barley. Bruichladdich definitely does some interesting stuff using different varieties of barley, but I don't know if they malt their own or acquire from elsewhere.

Edited July 5, 2014 by garbanzobean

[Jackinbox]

I'm a big Kilchoman fan as well. Probably going to pick up their most recent Loch Gorm next week.

I got to try this over the weekend as a friend just picked up a bottle. Very, very good stuff. I'm going to have to grab a bottle for myself.