anCnoc Peatheart Batch 2
46% ABV - Highlands, Scotland
Nose: Wet wood smouldering over peat smoke, spices, and pepper. Hints of medicinal, roasted malts, and mint. Stretch notes of cardboard, mint, and bandages.
Taste: The flavours are heavy, but a generally light mouthfeel, perhaps with some oils. It has a lot of the same flavours, but I’m picking out an almost saline, rubber element before the fruit emerges. The fruits are both sweet and bitter, maybe tangy—maybe pineapple.
Finish: I’m left with smoked applewood, and a sooty, sweet peach, while wood spice and smoke lingers.
I didn’t know too much about anCnoc before I bought Rascan, also a peated version, a few years ago and I think that I had only tried a few expressions (including the 12-Year) in insignificant amounts since then. I was given this bottle as a Christmas gift in 2020 and now I definitely have gotten to know the peated side of anCnoc!
anCnoc Peatheart Batch 2 feels impressively Islay. I’m not sure if that’s the comparison that they would like to hear… There are two ways to interpret that: "huzzah! It’s from Islay!" or that I’m holding it to a standard and it is too comparable and lacking some favourite flavours. It’s somewhere in between.
This whisky is (still) available at a great value and it was an excellent gift. I won’t be walking so swiftly past the A’s on the shelf anymore. It is also much more enjoyable than the Rascan expression (read my review here). As an aside, the bottle design would be next-level if the lettering was imprinted rather than a standard label—it would contrast so well against the matte black.
Details: Heavily peated to 40.0 PPM. Non chill-filtered.
Tasting Notes (Official): Nose: Understated peat smoke and barbecue balanced by ripe pineapples, pears and dark rich tone of backed toffee apples. Palate: Structured and full, with rich smoke in balance with juicy gummy bears and the light, fizzy sweetness of spun sugar. Finish: Spicy and sweet with a smoky finale.
Tasted 07, 09 March 2021. (Posted 10 June 2021.)
