Such thing as peaty blended scotches?

toucanlamp · Nov 27, 2008

I've never tried one of the Islay single malt scotches which are supposedly such a unique taste with heavy peat. I'm intrigued by it.

However, where I live here in Canada, alcohol is much more expensive than in the states, and it seems that the Islay single malt scotches are especially so - Lagavulin 12 years is $110, Ardbeg 10 years is $100, etc. etc.

Is there such thing as a blended scotch which uses one of these heavily peated whiskes for their malt component? I'm guessing probably not since it's apparantly the kind of thing without mass market appeal, but if there were something of the sort I'd appreciate your help and like to try it.

thanks

Rughi · Nov 27, 2008

There are lots of blends that have peated malts in the mix. The key malt of White Horse, for instance, is Lagavulin.

There are also off-brand malts that contain young Islays for prices similar to blends. In the States there is an off-brand malt named Finlaggan that is commonly available at Trader Joe's. When it was in agreen bottle it was said to be young Lagavulin and in the current blue bottle it is said to be young Caol Ila. There are also "islay malts" by Whitfields and others that may be good primers. I'm not sure what's easily available to you, though.

Roger

toucanlamp · Nov 27, 2008

Yeah it's probably tough, I've never seen any of those brands you describe. It's all government liquor stores in Ontario here so it's tough to get variety since if they don't have it you're out of luck.

Maybe I'll look for a deal on one of the single malts next time I'm in the US. From what I gather it's vastly cheaper for them down there,

Suzuki · Nov 27, 2008

toucanlamp said:
Yeah it's probably tough, I've never seen any of those brands you describe. It's all government liquor stores in Ontario here so it's tough to get variety since if they don't have it you're out of luck.

Maybe I'll look for a deal on one of the single malts next time I'm in the US. From what I gather it's vastly cheaper for them down there,

Try this - its fantastic value ($40) and has some nice peat tones (no peat monster by any stretch) (link to LCBO listing)

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/ProductResultsController

This is also good value for the price - not as smooth, but decent for $33.

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/ProductResultsController

180gVinyl · Nov 27, 2008

toucanlamp said:
I've never tried one of the Islay single malt scotches which are supposedly such a unique taste with heavy peat. I'm intrigued by it.

However, where I live here in Canada, alcohol is much more expensive than in the states, and it seems that the Islay single malt scotches are especially so - Lagavulin 12 years is $110, Ardbeg 10 years is $100, etc. etc.

Is there such thing as a blended scotch which uses one of these heavily peated whiskes for their malt component? I'm guessing probably not since it's apparantly the kind of thing without mass market appeal, but if there were something of the sort I'd appreciate your help and like to try it.

thanks

Black Bottle is an Islay based blend,

However if you want an Islay malt, this is available on the LCBO site

BOWMORE 12 YEAR OLD ISLAY SINGLE MALT*
LCBO 330803 | 750 mL bottle

Price: $ 49.05
Spirits, Scotch Whisky,
40.0% Alcohol/Vol.

Made in: Scotland, United Kingdom
By: Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd.

Tasting Note
Full amber-gold colour; forward peaty and smoked meat aromas; full-bodied and smooth with intense smoky flavours

Giant · Nov 27, 2008

Peat Monster by Compass Box. It is a very peaty, yet very smooth blended scotch. I got a bottle here for about $60.

I also found it on the LCBO website, listed at $70

DunEdinRanger · Nov 27, 2008

You want to try and get your hands on Black Bottle, a blend of all the Islay malts.

http://www.shoppersvineyard.com/product_new.asp?pID=30765 is a link and here is a photo of the bottle -

which is now $34 US Dollars plus 7% sales tax in NJ.

180gVinyl · Nov 27, 2008

Giant said:
Peat Monster by Compass Box. It is a very peaty, yet very smooth blended scotch. I got a bottle here for about $60.

I also found it on the LCBO website, listed at $70

You do Peat Monster a disservice by calling it a blended scotch

A blended scotch is a blend of malt and grain whisky

Peat Monster is a blend of single malt whiskies

(What used to be known as a vatted malt)

Suzuki · Nov 27, 2008

180gVinyl said:
Black Bottle is an Islay based blend,

However if you want an Islay malt, this is available on the LCBO site

BOWMORE 12 YEAR OLD ISLAY SINGLE MALT*
LCBO 330803 | 750 mL bottle

Price: $ 49.05
Spirits, Scotch Whisky,
40.0% Alcohol/Vol.

Made in: Scotland, United Kingdom
By: Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd.

Tasting Note
Full amber-gold colour; forward peaty and smoked meat aromas; full-bodied and smooth with intense smoky flavours

This is good stuff - I would have recommended it, but kept my suggestions below $40.

toucanlamp · Nov 27, 2008

Suzuki said:
Try this - its fantastic value ($40) and has some nice peat tones (no peat monster by any stretch) (link to LCBO listing)

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/ProductResultsController

This is also good value for the price - not as smooth, but decent for $33.

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/ProductResultsController

Can you give me the names of the ones you mean? I don't think it works to post links to search results on that website because clicking on each I just get the entire LCBO database listed of 10700 products,

I'm wondering if one you had described for $33 was the McClelland 5 year old single malts which they have one for each region? I have seen those but I've read a lot of reviews on the internet which have looked upon them very poorly, I have read a few from people regarding the Islay one remarking that it has barely any peat flavour whatsoever.

Thanks for the suggestions from everyone else. My parents live in Arkansas and I am visting them for Christmas. Just curious, is it difficult to find something like one of the Islay single malts in liquor stores outside of the big major cities in the US? Or would I be likely to certainly be able to find something like that in a reasonably large city like Little Rock if I look a bit?

Giant · Nov 27, 2008

180gVinyl said:
You do Peat Monster a disservice by calling it a blended scotch

A blended scotch is a blend of malt and grain whisky

Peat Monster is a blend of single malt whiskies

(What used to be known as a vatted malt)

I know it says "Vatted Malt" on the bottle, but I thought it was just a fancy way of saying "Blended." I was unaware of the distinction.

My knowledge has increased :thumbup:

Suzuki · Nov 27, 2008

toucanlamp said:
Can you give me the names of the ones you mean? I don't think it works to post links to search results on that website because clicking on each I just get the entire LCBO database listed of 10700 products,

I'm wondering if one you had described for $33 was the McClelland 5 year old single malts which they have one for each region? I have seen those but I've read a lot of reviews on the internet which have looked upon them very poorly, I have read a few from people regarding the Islay one remarking that it has barely any peat flavour whatsoever.

Thanks for the suggestions from everyone else. My parents live in Arkansas and I am visting them for Christmas. Just curious, is it difficult to find something like one of the Islay single malts in liquor stores outside of the big major cities in the US? Or would I be likely to certainly be able to find something like that in a reasonably large city like Little Rock if I look a bit?

The first one I linked to was TÉ BHEAG - here's the description:

Té Bheag (pronounced chey vek) is unchilfiltered to preserve and accentuate the flavours. Owners Prabàn Na Linne are said to be the pioneers in this now-almost-standard practice. Té Bheag's blend is derived from 8- to 11-year-old malts from Islay, Highland and Speyside. It has the richness of toffee and delicate peaty tones with a long warm finish. One of the Scotch world's best values.

The first one was the McClelland - its decent, but no peat monster.

If you want a really peaty whisky, you'll need to go single malt and the peatiest I've had is Laphroaig.

DunEdinRanger · Dec 2, 2008

If you want the world's peatiest whisky, you have to try and find Bruichladdich's Port Charlotte series which includes very young Octomore - which if I remember right comes in at over 80 ppm of phenols, making it "PHENOLMENOLLY GOOD!!"

And yes Jim McEwan should buy me a drink for that!

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Such thing as peaty blended scotches?

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