What whisk(e)y are we drinking? (Part 2)

Opened up my bottle of Torabhaig Allt Gleann.

Another 46% relatively young peated whisky from a craft Scottish distillery so not bad to compare it to the Wolfburn. Owned by the small Marussia Beverages group, so it's not independent but part of a stable of fairly niche brands.

This is also pale and pretty naked, no sherry or port finish, just a youngish whisky finished in ex bourbon.

Marketing for this emphasises that it's "heavily" peated, or sometimes it's said to be "robustly" peated. The label touts that the malted barley is at 77 PPM... But the final product is 33 PPM.

Judge for yourselves how heavily peated that actually is. It's in Lagavulin territory in phenol terms I guess.

Definitley young, but pleasant. I'd be curious to revisit this as a 10 year old.

The price point reflects the newness and novelty of this being only the 2nd (?) new distillery on Skye in a couple hundred years, but in value terms people would probably be better off with a value peated whisky like Machir Bay from Kilchoman on Islay, which I'd put in the same general bracket.

This beats the pants off the Wolfburn however.

Ardbegs in general are slightly peatier than Laprhoaigs, but not by much, and if you're not very into peaty whiskies the difference in smokiness levels might not be discernable, depending on the particular whisky. Once you get to around 30 PPM, into Talisker and Lagavulin territory, most people who are not especially into heavily peated whiskies will start to describe the whisky as "very smoky" in my experience of offering neighbours tastings of Islay and Island peated whiskies.

If you go by the phenol parts per million (PPM) measure of smokiness (Not always an exact science as it translates to taste) then Ardbeg's line-up is generally reported to be around 50-55 PPM these days, and Laphroaig perhaps 40-50 PPM.

If you like Uigeadail then you certainly woulnd't be put off by any of the current crop of Laprhoaigs, I would say they are all more accessible ... The 10 year old, Lore, Quarter Cask, PX Cask etc. The distillery style is slightly different but I think most people who like one will enjoy the other too.

I have a bottle of current edition Uigeadail and it is probably around 55 if I were guessing. Several years ago I think it was peatier, there was an era where Ardbeg pushed NAS peat levels a bit more, up to 100 PPM in some cases.

Yeah, Black Barrel is quite a good product.

In the Jameson core line-up I also thought the original Caskmates stout finish was very nice for the price, particularly when on sale. Batch 1 really had a distinctive almost fungal / vegetal nose (I mean that in a good way, honestly). Not sure what the current incarnation is like.