To Peat or Not to Peat?

That is the question.

Burning the peat at Laphroaig Distillery

You either love it or you hate it.

Its as simple as that.!

My first introduction to whiskey was on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. I had never ever had a (proper) whiskey in my life. We were on a vacation there and we were in the local and I was asked by my significant other, 'what type of whiskey do you like?' I promptly told her that I don't drink whiskey, I'm a rum and coke drinker! She proceeded to order up three samples of single malt whiskeys for me to try. Then she asked, 'which one do you prefer?' I pointed to one of them and said 'that one'. It was a Laphroaig Single Malt. If you know Laphroaig, its a very peaty whiskey. When asked why I liked that one, My response was 'it has some flavour to it, what I expect a whiskey to taste like' , that's it I was hooked at that point. I dove into the deep end of the peat spectrum.

Now, obviously, thats NOT the norm. Remember, I wasn't a whiskey drinker at that point. There was just something about this particular whiskey that I really liked. That being said, there are many people who wold likely gag at the smell and/or the taste of a peated whiskey, BUT, you really need to give it a chance.

Smoke from the peat infusing in the malt

Heavily peated, lightly peated?

Is peat a thing for Islay in Scotland only?

While peated whiskeys are typically associated to the island of Islay on the west side of Scotland, its not strictly associated to only them. Ireland has peated whiskeys as does the Yukon in Canada

Lugnaquilla Peated Irish Whiskey, Two Brewers (small batch Canadian whisky producers)

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