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Rise of the Over-Peats   Neyah White •  Jul 29, 2009 •  Post A Comment

The bottom of our Single Malt list has just become significantly more serious.

Two bottles from the Islay (pronounced 'eye-la') released this year are redefining our idea of peat and of what is possible in a bottle of Whisky. I have dubbed both the Ardbeg Supernova and the Octomore from Bruichladdich as 'over-peat' whiskies due to incredible levels of flavor they both achieve. In Scotch, the 'peat' flavor is a result of malted barley being dried with heat from a peat fire - peat being a dried brick of dense roots cut from a layer that gets compressed under fields of grass in boggy areas. Think layers and layers of turf pressed together over time. Burning peat is a very evocative smell and the smoke permeates the grain which then shows up in the spirit distilled from it. We measure the level of peat in terms of the phenols (oils esentially) that show up in the finished product. This measurement is counted in parts per million or PPM. To set the stage for the over-peats let's look at the range found in more standard bottles. At the low end, Bruichladdich is barely peated at all, falling somewhere between 3 and 5 PPM phenol. In the middle range, Bowmore is peated somewhere around 12 PPM. Until now, the biggest dog in this yard was the standard Ardbeg at 43-45 PPM phenol. So the range was 3 PPM to 45 PPM.

Both of these new bottles are clocking in at over 100 PPM, the Octomore at 131 PPM, a full 3 times highest level available just last year.
The Octomore came to us first and is frankly, a little more dear to me as a result of shear nepotism (that pic is me expressing my love on a barrel of Octomore) resulting from my time at the Bruichladdich Whisky Academy. I know from first-hand experience that the Ocotmore was aged in first fill bourbon barrels from Buffalo Trace, but at five years old, they don't show much. This is a study in peat and grain, period.

The Supernova drinks like it is a bit older. I have no proof of this as there is no age statement, but is seems a bit more relaxed than the younger Ardbegs I tasted at the distillery a few years ago. It too is quite a ride though and offers quite a bang-for-the-buck.

I don't want to get too far into reviewing these bottles as they are incredibly complicated and clearly are not for everyone. However, I challenge any of you that profess to enjoy peaty whisky to give one of these a shot.

Neyah White is Bar Manager at nopa
Posted July 29, 2009 • Filed under Spirits • Share: del.icio.us / StumbleUpon / Digg

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