Scotch from Islay: from the Spirited Folk of Oak and Smoke

Hello Everyone!  In our last post, we talked about the two smallest Scotch whisky producing areas and the representative drams from each.  In this post, we want to talk about Bryan’s favorite, which is Islay.  Although whisky is produced on many of the western Scottish islands, Islay is by far the most well known and has its own area designation from the Scotch Whisky Association.  Whisky from the other islands is officially lumped into the Highlands designation, although two of them, Arran and Jura, are right next door to Islay, while Skye, Lewis, and Orkney are farther north.

Photo in a photo: Storms in Loch Indaal; Bowmore Distillery

The dominant flavor profile of Islay is that of its classic peat and smoke.  The island almost appears to be two joined peninsulas divided by the dominant Loch Indaal, and includes mountains, beaches, rugged coastline, and long grassy stretches, much of which covers its signature peaty soil.  This small island with just over 3000 inhabitants boasts eight working distilleries: Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Kilchoman, Lagavulin, and Laphroaig.   

Peat fires at Laphroaig

Islay is classically known in the Scotch whisky world for its peaty, smoky characteristics.  Ardbeg maintains perhaps the consistently highest peat level across its line of whiskies, although Bruichladdich pushes the envelope even further with each release of its Octomore label (peated to a level of 169 parts per million in its latest release (!) compared to Ardbeg’s Supernova, reported to be peated to 100 ppm).   By contrast, Laphroaig and Lagavulin, the most familiar names from Islay, are in the 40-50 ppm range.  However Bruichladdich, along with Bunnahabhain, both produce unpeated whiskies, and Bowmore, the granddaddy of Islay distillers, produces a wide line of sherry-conditioned whiskies that show a nice balance between sweetness and smoke (personal favorite: Bowmore Darkest: a 15-year old malt that sees both Bourbon and Sherry aging, with its flavor most influenced by its final 3 years in ex-Oloroso Sherry barrels).   Even Ardbeg, which mounted a challenge to Bruichladdich in the ppm department, shows a remarkably balanced dram with its Uigeadail.

On an island dominated by distilleries that have been around since the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, and with the dominant reputations enjoyed especially by Laphroaig and Lagavulin, it might seem unusual that a new distillery would be established, but in 2005, Kilchoman (pronounced kilhoman) was the first distillery built on Islay in 124 years.   Kilchoman considers itself a farm distillery, and is one of only six distilleries in all of Scotland to retain the traditional floor maltings.  We had the opportunity to sample a 5-year old Kilchoman in 2011, and found it to be developing quite nicely for such a young whisky.

No trip to Islay would be complete without a visit to its most well-known distilleries, and we visited both Lagavulin and Laphroaig, complete with a tour and private tasting at Laphroaig.  The Laphroaig 10-year is the most widely available in the US, but we prefer the Quarter Cask offering.  Despite its younger age, it has a more enhanced and concentrated flavor due to aging in smaller casks, which aside from being smaller, also “breathe” more, thus drawing in more of the salty, briny character of the Islay air.  Aside from the peaty, smoky, briny flavors (the latter of which features more prominently in Lagavulin), these whiskies are often more complex as a result of using a good bit of sherry cask conditioning.   Greater aging, such as with the Lagavulin 16, another personal favorite, also enhances the sweetness and balance.  On the other side of the coin is Caol Ila, with its standard 12 and 16-year offerings; we have found them to be a little rougher than other Islay malts.  A good portion of Caol Ila is used in blending for the Johnnie Walker series.

Ugly Betty, the Botanist gin still at Bruichladdich

While Lagavulin and Laphroaig are perhaps the most familiar names from Islay, the other distilleries should not be ignored.   We’ve already mentioned Bruichladdich, a distillery with too many different bottlings to count.  Bruichladdich (pronounced brook-laddie) was built in 1881 but finally fell silent in 1994.  Bruichladdich remained shuttered until 2000, when a group of private investors rescued it, and installed Jim McEwan as its production director and Master Distiller.  Much of its Victorian equipment is still in use, and with this original machinery, Bruichladdich produces the broadest line of any distillery in existence, by far.   Bruichladdich even maintains a dedicated still, known as Ugly Betty, for the production of its botanical gin called the Botanist.  It was announced last summer that the French conglomerate Rémy Cointreau had purchased Bruichladdich, but we are hopeful that the same spirit will persist at the “Progressive Hebridean Distillers.”  

When you think of the Islay and Scotch, think of peat and smoke.  However, these are not one-dimensional whiskies and they offer some great flavors.  Stay tuned for further discussion about malts from the rest of the Scottish islands!

In the meantime please let us know about your favorite malt!