Highland v Island

[Cock Womble]

Now then, I'm a bit of a whisky fan and have sampled many fine exponents of the distiller's art.

Even within my narrow experience, I have discovered a preference for the Highland malts over the Island varieties. I just find the Highlands more "peaty" and the Islands more "Heathery". Peaty is more my taste.

Is there an Island malt that would act as a nice cross-over, to give me a more rounded pallet?

[PaulHogan]

Talisker

[Don]

Possibly Ardbeg would be worth a try...

[Cock Womble]

PaulHogan said:

Talisker

As it happens, I picked up a bargain bottle of Talisker this evening and had a taste.

Still finding it a bit "flowery".

[A911DOM]

Something between you say...

Maybe a Bowmore? Not big peaty hit, but not flowery either.

Lefty - yet another thread with your name on it fella!

[Lefty Two Drams]

Cock Womble said:

Now then, I'm a bit of a whisky fan and have sampled many fine exponents of the distiller's art.

Even within my narrow experience, I have discovered a preference for the Highland malts over the Island varieties. I just find the Highlands more "peaty" and the Islands more "Heathery". Peaty is more my taste.

Is there an Island malt that would act as a nice cross-over, to give me a more rounded pallet?

You sure you got that the right way round?

Islay certainly produces the peatiest whisky (Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Lagavulin, Bruichladdich, Caol Ila, Bunnahabhain, Port Ellen, and now Kilchoman). Jura, Tobermory, Ledaig, Arran, Talisker etc are all generally made with barely malted with a lower level of phenol.

Highland Park is a different beast, spicier and richer than the island whisky from the west coast but with a peat reek amazingly reminiscent of orkney (to me at least, being from orcadian ancestry).

If peat is your thing, try ardbeg or laphroaig. Lagavulin generally a bit more oily and seawater-like (in a good way IMHO). Bowmore varies wildly with the different expressions, bunnahabhain is usually a bit lighter, a bit sweeter, a bit more subtle.

For the uber-peat, dig deep and get yourself a bottle of Ardbeg Supernova or Bruichladdich Octomore, two of the most phenolic whiskies ever bottled and made publicly available.

For a different view of peated whisky, try Ardmore. It's an Eastern Highland (just east of speyside actually and 3 miles from casa de lefty) but is a beautifully sweet, rich and has a nice peat-smoke edge to it. Awesome stuff and great value.

Or, even more left-field, try a peated Amrut from India. It's a lovely drop too and one I only discovered recently.

Slainte!

Edited by Lefty Two Drams on Wednesday 13th January 19:56

[Lefty Two Drams]

Some of my Islay whisky




Ardmore




Black Bottle & Smokehead, two great value peat-monsters




Octomore



The Daddy




And you've encouraged me to start already. Tonights dram:



Only £25 and it's fking great!

[Cock Womble]

Lefty Two Drams said:

You sure you got that the right way round?

Probably not, but I definitely appear to prefer Highland to Island.

I shall take your recommendations on board, thanks Lefty.

[Lefty Two Drams]

Cock Womble said:

Lefty Two Drams said:

You sure you got that the right way round?

Probably not, but I definitely appear to prefer Highland to Island.

I shall take your recommendations on board, thanks Lefty.

Most welcome

[LordGrover]

Slightly O/T. On the wireless t'other day there was a whisky 'expert' sharing his knowledge. I was surprised to hear all this single malt malarky is a very recent innovation. He said that up until the late seventies/early eighties 95% of scotch whisky was sold as blends.
Some bright spark noticed how well the oddity that is Glenfiddich was selling when the blends were on a downturn and decided to sell others in the same way. Presto! New market created.

Is there much or any truth in this?

[Wadeski]

pretty much, although it is a slight exaggeration. I'm no expert on the history but

Almost all scotch sold out of scotland until the early 60s was blended, until Glenfiddich started being distributed worldwide. Its a large part of the reason why GF is the worlds #1 selling single malt - because it established itself in the most markets by virtue of being first mover. Certianly its true that by the late 70s others were looking to get in on the action, although interestingly most malts have one "big" market for them be it France, the USA etc. Very few are truly popular globally.

It was actually Mr.Greener at United Distillers who really started pushing premium single malts in the mid 80s - especially in Duty Free. He really pushed the 20+ year old malts, which up until then had been kept for whisky fairs, super-premium blends and corporate gifts. I believe he is still a bit resented by some old school whisky heads for commercialising this aspect of the business, but thats business for ya....

[Lefty Two Drams]

Wadeski said:

pretty much, although it is a slight exaggeration. I'm no expert on the history but

Almost all scotch sold out of scotland until the early 60s was blended, until Glenfiddich started being distributed worldwide. Its a large part of the reason why GF is the worlds #1 selling single malt - because it established itself in the most markets by virtue of being first mover. Certianly its true that by the late 70s others were looking to get in on the action, although interestingly most malts have one "big" market for them be it France, the USA etc. Very few are truly popular globally.

It was actually Mr.Greener at United Distillers who really started pushing premium single malts in the mid 80s - especially in Duty Free. He really pushed the 20+ year old malts, which up until then had been kept for whisky fairs, super-premium blends and corporate gifts. I believe he is still a bit resented by some old school whisky heads for commercialising this aspect of the business, but thats business for ya....

That's really interesting Wade, ta

[YAD061]

Highland Malts are paler compared to their Island cousins and have a less smokey/peaty taste. I like a Speyside myself with a cask conditioned Glen Grant being right up there