Rannoch Moor, Scotland on Saturday, April 8 in the year 1505. Two kilted and tammed Scots are sitting by a roaring fire to help take the dampness out of their bones. The elder of the two
breaks the ambience of the wind’s bluster and the fire crackles: “Ya know wha’s missing in this uisge? The gamey tang of partly decayed organic matter.”

And from that innocent, off the cuff observation, the decision to use peat in whisky making was
born.

Ok, I made that up. (Sorry about that).

The history of scotch is typically seen through a smoky and hazy lens. I doubt very much, that one scot opined out loud that his “uisge” could really do with the aromatic scents of campfire smoke, camphor, iodine, pencil erases, Band-Aids and asphalt (but then again… ).

Here’s the thing: Scotland doesn’t have a lot of trees; however, it does have a lot of peat. In fact, over 20% of the countryside is covered in peat. Necessity being the mother of invention, dry peat was, and still is used to heat many a Scottish hearth. It was also used to heat whisky
stills and dry the barley. Along the way, many distilleries switched to coal and/or coke (no, not that Coke and no, not that coke!). Today, a few distilleries use dry peat bricks to dry the barley. This leads to said barley to be infused with those ‘fragrant’ attributes. They also are measured in PPM – Phenol Parts Per Million (Phenol being an aromatic organic compound).

Here’s the thing: all peated whiskies are not the same. They range from light, Bunnahahain 12-year old at 1-2PPM, to the bruising
Octomore Masterclass 08.3 at 309PPM.

I’m going to insert a couple of interesting BTWs here:

1) The more the PPM doesn’t necessarily always mean ‘peatier’. Two whiskies can have the same PPM count yet have different flavour profiles. One could be very beefy and smoky while the other could be more medicinal.

2) While we typically associate peat with the Islay region of Scotland, other whisky regions in Scotland do also make
peated expressions.

Islay and Speyside: peaty Scottish whisky regions

Ok, back to present day article.

Today, there are scores of whisky lovers, reverently known as Peat Heads, who enjoy and seek out those burly, in-your-face whiskies. But there’s more to the smoke than meets the tongue. Many are complex and deliciously layered with notes of vanilla, heather, coconut, leather,
spices and rich maltiness.

Maybe you’re not a peat head – yet. However, there is an easy way to grow into the role of unofficial ambassador: pour a dram, drink, enjoy and re-peat.

Here are five peated whiskies I’ve enjoyed and love to share:

Oh, And One Last Thing…

– Renaud Timson