Name: Big Peat
Distillery: Multiple (Port Ellen, Ardbeg, Caol Ila and Bowmore to be exact)
Region: Islay
Type: Scottish Small Batch Pure/Blended Malt
Alc/Vol: 46%
Independent bottlers Douglas Laing released Big Peat last year to rave reviews from Peat Freaks and also the great Jim Murray, who actually gave it the best Pure/Blended Malt of the year and a whopping 96 in the 2011 Whisky Bible.
The idea behind Big Peat is clear enough. It is a blend of malt whiskies from 4 distilleries on Islay, Ardbeg, Bowmore, Caol Ila and closed distillery Port Ellen. In the past one could call that a Vatted Malt but today, the official terms expected to be used is Pure Malt or Blended Malt. With this carefully chosen set of four distilleries, there is no prizes for guess what Douglas Laing was going for here. Clean rich smoke, citrus, smoke and did I mentioned... smoke? The result? It was good clean Islay goodness but somehow it did still fall off the mark by a bit.
Nose: Clean notes of peat and seaweed mix with an extremely clean citrus note with a light touch of malted barley. Good clean Islay (23)
Taste/Palate: The entry is rich earthy sugar notes before the lovely peat coats the mouth almost totally. Unforunately for a novice like me, I couldn't identify the differing types of smoke from the distilleries. (22)
Finish: The drying smokiness lingers before a nice touch of vanilla comes in at the end (20)
Overall: Nice-ish, but perhaps it was my lack of ability that perhaps left the true extent of this whisky's greatness uncovered. Maybe a much more seasoned Islay lover would be able to taste the various types of smokiness each of the 4 distilleries offer. (21) 86/100
Found At: No information at the moment
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