48% ABV - Islay, Scotland
Nose: Heavily peated, diesel, peppermint or pine, citrus, and a really pleasing—rather sweet—background smoke.
Taste: Lots of upfront ..sweetness? Develops quickly into a smoke bomb, nice thicker mouthfeel, with orchard fruits—borderlines tropical fruits—rounding this out.
Finish: Fading smoke, chili peppers, charred wood, ginger, smoked meat, more peat smoke… this one is going to last for a while.
Douglas Laing has a collection of wonderful (affordable) blends and the Big Peat series is definitely my favourite. Having bottles of Big Peat is a great addition to my library of whisky (the collection is nowhere near the size of a library, for the record). I particularly like them because I get to taste the many different ways that peat smoke expresses itself; vegetal, earthy, rubber, barbecued meat, smoke, bonfires… they’re all good in their own ways!
This Big Peat Fèis ìle 2020 was tasted side-by-side the Fèis ìle 2021 and Christmas Edition 2020. If I had to guess, I’d say that an odd cask of Bowmore is the dominant flavour profile—but that heavy peat is real and I can’t tell what Islay distillery matches this profile.
Tasted 27 October 2021. (Posted 07 June 2022.)