Before we crack open another bottle, it occurred to me while writing the Highland Park post that we haven't yet really talked about peat. I'll spare you the botanical jargon here, but essentially we're talking about partially decayed vegetation found in wetland habitats.
Of importance to scotch drinkers, peat absorbs and retains massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, making it a potent combustible fuel source, more intense than natural gas or even coal. Although legally considered a renewable resource, unfortunately peat consumption far outpaces regrowth at an unsustainable rate. Most mainland distilleries and malting companies have moved on to alternative means of drying their germinating barley, but it remains a traditional mainstay of the Islay and Island regions of whisky production.
After barley has been soaking in water on the malting floor long enough to germinate, developing its starches into fermentable sugars, the process has to be halted by drying (unless you're attempting to grow more barley, in which case you would just plant the stuff in a field). As a fuel, peat burns hot and slow, a smoldering heat source. Just like hickory smoking a Smithfield country ham, the smoke itself penetrates the malt and imparts its own flavors. Scottish seafood, especially salmon, is often smoked with peat in fact. With heavily peated malts there can be a distinctly medicinal tinge to the aromas and flavors thanks to aromatic compounds known as 'phenols'.
Phenols have a wide range of aromatic characteristics - the spicy smell of a chili pepper, wintergreen, herbaceous oregano and thyme, Listerine, cloves, and of course the skunky musk of dorm room cannabis. One of the phenolic compound most relevant to your Islay malt is guaiacol. Guaiacol in its various forms is said to responsible for the taste of smoked foods, the roasted flavor of coffee, the medicinal/anise taste of anesthetics and antiseptics, and you guessed it... the naturally occurring pheromones that signal locusts to swarm. It is also present in peat smoke and therefore will manifest in varying degrees in your Islay malt. For a more scientifically minded explanation of all this, click here. I won't be offended.
Bruichladdich (Islay) 3-4 ppm
Springbank (Campbeltown) 7-8 ppm
Benromach (Speyside) 8 ppm
Ardmore (Highland) 10-15 ppm
Highland Park (Islands - Orkneys) 20 ppm
Bowmore (Islay) 20-25 ppm
Talisker (Islands - Skye) 25-30 ppm
Caol Ila (Islay) 30-35 ppm
Ledaig (Islands - Mull) 35 ppm
Lagavulin (Islay) 35-40 ppm
Port Charlotte (Islay) 40 ppm
Laphroaig (Islay) 40-43 ppm
Ardbeg (Islay) 55 ppm
Longrow (Campbeltown) 55 ppm
I'd consider anything 30 ppm or higher to be heavy peat. The Longrow is a bit of an outlier; it's basically the Springbank Distillery's attempt to prove Islay-style malt could be produced on the mainland. Bruichladdich recently relased their latest edition of Octomore, the 'world's most heavily peated whisky' at 167 ppm, for which there is a waiting list to purchase (although here in Richmond, they do have it at both McCormick's Whisky Grill locations). It is also important to note that the phenol measurements are usually taken at the mash stage, practically the beginning of the production process, and will be drastically reduced through the distillation and cask aging process. Those malts with lower ppm phenol levels may not even have a detectable trace of smokiness in the finished product. This is why peat fanatics may favor younger malts in contrast to the general rule that older scotch is better scotch.
At the time of this post, I have tried four (eventually, ten) of the scotches on that list, and had four very different experiences. Peat smoke is not a one trick pony; nor is it for everyone. This is a new ballgame from your favorite Speyside malts, but the same three ingredients - barley, yeast, water. Let's try one next time...
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