The colours of Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker is synonymous with blended Scotch whisky. Being the worlds best selling blend, it takes up quite a bit of space on the shelves. There are many different expressions depending on where it is being sold, for example the Voyager series can be found in Travel Retail. There have been additions to the core range such as Double Black and Island Green. But all of these have been born from red and black label born in 1909. The whisky had Cardhu as the main malt component. Today these whiskies are a complex blend of grain and up to around forty single malts to give them there signature flavour profiles. The colored labels are a flavour code which has held strong and remained consistent for many years.

Red label has always been a whisky made to either be drunk by itself, but more often than not with a simple mixer such as soda water or ginger ale. The whisky has a spicy flavour profile which is well matched for long satisfying and freshly flavoured drinks.

ABV: 40%
Size: UK 700ml // US 1.75L
Find here: UK £19.49 // US $32.99

Black label has always been a hugely complex whisky, with lots of caramel, vanilla mixed with soft spices and a little wood smoke in the background. It’s not a peaty whisky, but has enough smoke to keep it interesting and lively on the palate. Black label can be drunk any way you want, and is certainly of a quality to be drunk on its own. The whiskies inside the bottle are all at least twelve years old.

ABV: 40%
Size: UK 700ml // US 750ml
Find here: UK £26.89 // US $33.99

Green label was added to the fold in 1997. Originally called Pure Malt, it was renamed Green Label in 2004. There is very little smoke at all in Green label. It is made with malt whisky only and has a sweeter more honied flavour profile and is exceptionally smooth.

ABV: 43%
Size: UK 700ml // US 750ml
Find here: UK £37.95 // US $64.89

Gold label was also introduced in 1997, and although had no age statement, the whiskies are around the eighteen year mark. Like Green, Gold has a sweeter flavour profile, with vanilla and caramel being dominant, but there are also more complex and subtle flavours of heather honey and blossom.

ABV: 40%
Size: UK 700ml // US 750ml
Find here: UK £42.85 // $69.99

Blue label was introduced In 1992 and is Johnnie Walker’s premium blend. Having no age statement, it is blended to recreate the character of blends made at the turn of the 20th century, and although the whisky has some young whisky in the blend, there are also some very old whiskies in the blend too, giving flavours of sandalwood, and linseed oil which are often present in older whiskies.

ABV: 40%
Size: UK 700ml // US 750ml
Find here: UK £179.95 // US $299.99

These five whiskies are the core of the Johnnie Walker range, and additions to this series started to evolve in 2011 with Double Black and Platinum and from then the other variations began to be produced.

Black label is the go-to whisky for many whisky professionals, myself included. It is complex and smooth and extremely versatile. It makes fabulous highballs, is great in an Old Fashioned, and is still excellent on its own, with water or ice.

By Colin Hampden-White

Craigellachie's 'uncollectable' whisky

Craigellachie distillery has bottled its oldest expression of whisky at 51 years old. Continuing the prime number tradition of modern Craigellachie, the 51 year old whisky is eighteen years older than the previous expression. But, Craigellachie 51 is not bottled in a fancy crystal decanter and it doesn’t have a silly price tag. In fact, this whisky is going to be free.

Over the next 12 months Craigellachie 51, is being made available for whisky lovers at special tastings around the USA having visited three other markets around the world already.

Global Ambassador Georgie Bell comments: “We wanted to do the unthinkable. We wanted to make a typically collectable Scotch more accessible.”

Adding “We want to give as many people as we can, the chance to try this incredible whisky, because how often does a whisky of this age and calibre actually get tasted?”

Malt Master, Stephanie Macleod said “51 years encased in oak is an extraordinary length of time. Starting life in 1962 as an aggressive beast, the whisky over five decades has developed a softer side yet still retains the distinct umami, muscular note that Craigellachie is known for.”

Craigellachie distillery is situated in the heart of Speyside. It stands on a rock overlooking the confluence of the rivers Fiddich and Spey. Speyside whiskies are known to be fruity and floral but Craigellachie is different in style this with its rich and robust character.

Constructed by two whisky icons: Peter Mackie and Alexander Edward, it began production in 1891, when its whisky was first described as “old-fashioned”.

Sticking to tradition is a hallmark of the distillery, hence the continued use of old-fashioned worm tubs to cool its spirit and its own oil-fired malt. These help to give extra flavour and create a muscular character. With this robust spirit, there are greater possibilities for long aged whisky.

The core portfolio comprises four Craigellachie single malts: the 13 Years Old, 17 Years Old, 23 Years Old and 33 Years Old. The whiskies have won numerous awards, including “World’s Best Single Malt Whisky” at the World Whiskies Awards for the 31 year old. To have a chance of tasting something even older, head off to the website and get your name in the running.

By Colin Hampden-White

Ardbeg An Oa

Ardbeg An Oa 46.6%

There have been no new constant expressions from Arbeg for nearly a decade, so the anticipation for An Oa was pretty high, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Not as full on as Uigeadail but with more of a punch then the ten, this is a great addition to the line up.

Nose: Nutty with sweet tobacco leaf mix with confected sweets covering a base citrus of lemon and blood orange. Butterscotch and a little fudge bring more sweetness.

Palate: There is still plenty of peat to keep the core Ardbeg fans happy, but the overall mouth feel is quite light and delicate. Cigars and chocolate mix with fudge and limes giving good complexity and balance.

Finish: The smoke lingers on and becomes slightly ashy, but there is fudgy sweetness right alongside the smoke up until the end. The final flavours are not drying or spicy, but sweet and smoky.

Ardbeg Ten Years Old Gift Box, 70 cl

CHW

As time nose by: Meeting Richard Paterson

Colin Hampden-White talks to the whisky blending legend that is Richard Paterson.

There are very few people within the whisky industry who travel quite as much as Richard Paterson. He is amongst a small collective of Scottish whisky people who are at the forefront of promoting Scotch, the brands of Whyte and Mackay and, in particular, The Dalmore. To do that job day in, day out, takes resilience, tenacity and above all the ability to be absolutely delightful to everyone all of the time. These skills seem to come naturally to Richard. He seems to thrive off people’s pleasure, revel in their gain of knowledge and be continuously excited by other’s discovery of flavour. He is a natural brand ambassador. However, this is not Richard’s primary role at Whyte and Mackay. He may fulfil that role in the public’s eye, but he has just as important things to do behind the scenes. First and foremost, Richard keeps all the brands he looks after consistent in flavour and, with many of them is still trying to improve them. Richard is the Master Blender at Whyte and Mackay and it’s been quite a journey to get there.

Richard was born on the 31st of January 1949. A few of us may know something of past events that have taken place on that day and, if in doubt, Richard with his love of history will be able to tell you that both Guy Fawkes and Bonnie Prince Charlie both died on that same day. Richard has an incredible memory for dates, especially of historical figures, some well-known and some not, who have been born, died or done something noteworthy at certain moments. This knowledge allows Richard to enrich the stories he tells surrounding whisky with what was happening in the wider world, putting Scotch into historical context. This ability is not only charming, but makes Richard’s stories all the more engaging, entertaining and educational all at once. He is one heck of a story teller, who happens to be one heck of a blender, hence his nickname “the nose”.

Richard started his working life in whisky aged 17 in September 1966. Richard was hired by the Managing Director of A Gillies and Co, on their first meeting at interview. He was so taken aback to be hired so quickly that when asked the question “Can you start on Monday”, he didn’t have time to think about his answer. So Richard started on that Monday the 5th of September 1966 as an office junior. Hence this is Richards’s 50th year in the Scotch whisky industry, and there has been plenty of water under the bridge, much of it made into whisky, since then.

When Richard joined A Gillies and Co, the whisky industry was enjoying a boom. Indeed, nineteen distilleries opened during that period are still going today. This was a great time for a young man to join the industry. Richard’s first boss was Tom Wilson, whose responsibility was the acquisition of whisky stocks through distilling, broking and blending. Part of Richard’s job was to record all the transactions. With no computers, this was all done painstakingly by fountain pen in ledgers dating back to the Victorian era.

Richard recalls his years at A Gillies and Co with a great deal of affection. He remembers it being incredibly relaxed in the whisky industry in those days, with people turning up for work well after nine in the morning and finishing promptly at five. There were no office politics and the odd hang-over on a Monday morning could be sustained. This wasn’t to say people didn’t take their jobs seriously, they certainly did, and taught Richard a great deal about various aspects of the business. Along with the serious side of whisky, there quite a bit of hilarity. Richard recalls “the Cowboy” game. Lots were drawn first thing in the morning and a Cowboy was chosen. He would then have to walk down the corridor, kick open the door as if it were a saloon, and down one of three glasses of clear liquid on a desk, much like playing roulette, two if the glasses contained water and the third new make spirit, which although not an actual bullet, Richard remembers the lethal effect of the 68% spirit. Needless to say, some days were a blur and he needed to stay out of the way of Tom Wilson and Mr Wolfe.

In those profitable days, the small companies such as A Gillies and Co had to live for the moment. Little time was spent marrying whisky. Richard puts it as “more of a passionate affair than a marriage”, but they did what was needed to get on. A similarly casual attitude was taken with casks. Spirits was filled into anything. The attitude was that a cask was a cask and whatever the previous contents had been, it really didn’t matter, be that Sherry, wine or even liqueur. This was acceptable practice in those days.

After Richard had been in Glasgow for long enough to have learnt the ropes, Tom Wilson asked if he had ever been to Campbeltown. Richard said he hadn’t, and so Tom said he was to go. To many, Campbeltown was the back of beyond. Only sixty five miles as the crow flies, it is one hundred and forty miles by road, and takes nearly four hours on a rickety bus on terrible road surfaces.

After a long night in the pub, Richard met the warehouse men and on his first day was introduced to blending. A blend was made during his first few days and the casks used logged in a leather ledger. The number placed on the cask heads, Richard remembers to this day. It was 69/4, meaning the fourth blend made at Glebe Street in 1969. During his time in Cambeltown, Richard studied these ledgers. They held the history of the blends made in the past and extended his knowledge.

A week later, Richard was introduced to Glen Scotia, a distillery owned by A Gillies and Co. Although Richard came from a whisky industry family, he had never visited a distillery before.

Richard learnt a huge amount in Cambeltown, on all sides of the whisky making process from the spirit to the blend. By the time he came to leave he had decided that his future lay beyond A Gillies and Co in a larger company, and that company was Whyte and Mackay.

Whyte and Mackay had, through the years since its conception, built itself up to be the fifth largest blend in the world by the mid-1960s and this position had been retained by the time Richard joined them in 1970.

Whyte and Mackay have their roots dating back to 1844, but really got going when James Whyte and Charles Mackay joined Allan & Poynter in 1875. In 1881 they bought the wines and spirits part of the business and having not secured the use of the company name started Whyte and Mackay.

Richard’s position at the company was as an assistant blender under Alistair Hart, who explain that Richard responsibilities would include preparing the specifications of blends, ordering stocks of the component parcels of whisky, arranging transport for the casks, and scheduling the actual blending with the bonded warehouses. Now Whyte and Mackay might not have been a DCL or Hiram Walker, but Richard felt he had hit the big time.

The company only had thirty five staff at the time Richard joined, so was small enough for him to learn about the working of all the different departments. He went out with one of the salesmen, Tom Macauley, who helped him a great deal, and spent quite a bit of time in marketing which was Jack Ligertwood’s department. But Richard’s main responsibility during his first year was to nose every cask that came into the company for use in the Whyte and Mackay Special Blend.

At that time whiskies came to a bond from as many as thirty five or forty distilleries, which meant three hundred or so casks would have to be brought to Glasgow and samples pulled from them for Richard to nose. Richard’s office soon became overloaded with samples and he saw that this inefficient system had to change. He thought, that rather than the whiskies coming to him all the time, he should be able to go to the whiskies. So once the whiskies arrived he would be called and with the help of Betty Toal, the charge hand and her steel valinch, Richard would evaluate directly from every cask, first without and then with the addition of a little water. He remembers in some of the coldest winters the true nature of the whiskies could only be revealed by adding hot water to the whiskies.

This job gave Richard a degree of independence and he loved this part of the job. He saw himself as a protector for the blend, weeding out bad casks so they didn’t negatively affect the blend. His father’s rule of thumb was that 96% of evaluation can be done by sight and nose, and only if these two indicators don’t give you a definitive conclusion, do you then taste the liquid. Richard feels that nosing each cask is like meeting different people with individual personalities.

Many of these casks that Richard tested were used in vatted malts, many of which went to Japan. Whyte and Mackay, through the work of Jack Ligertwood, had a very good relationship with Japan, and the Japanese used their whisky in many of their blends. Many of Whyte and Mackay’s critics thought they should only be exporting bottled whisky, but didn’t realise that that was not what the Japanese wanted. As well as working with relatively young bulk malts, Richard worked with contracts for aged blends such those at Harrods. Using 21 to 25 year old whiskies, Richard particularly enjoyed working with these distinguished expressions because of their rare and complex attributes.

Having been involved with blends at this level, Richard realised that if he wanted to become a master blender he needed to get under the skin of what makes a single malt. To do this, he would need to spend more time at the distilleries, discovering what brings the character to each spirit. In 1972 Richard travelled further north than he had ventured before, beyond Inverness to Whyte and Mackay’s flagship distillery: Dalmore.

On his way to Dalmore, on the Cromarty Firth, Richard had some casks to nose at Tomatin. As the warehouse staff had been so busy, they had not laid them out for him and he had to climb through the racking. Racking was relatively new in the early seventies, much more efficient and less labour-intensive than dunnage warehousing. In doing this, Richard learnt a valuable lesson which now seems obvious, but wouldn’t have been recognised if the casks had been laid out. The casks on the bottom held more mellow whisky. The damp air at ground level had affected the evaporation speeds; the casks at the top were sharper as the drier air helped maintain the alcohol strength. This was one of the valuable lessons he began to learn by being in the field, away from the office and bonded warehouses in Glasgow.

At Dalmore, Richard was to experience an extended family. There were several members of the same family and several generations working with the distillery at the same time. To these families the distillery wasn’t simply a workplace but an extended home. This created great loyalty and woe betide anyone who was disparaging about the whisky – after all it was their life!

After his first visit to Dalmore, Richard was asked to write a report on what made the spirit of Dalmore. It was through writing this report that he realised the complexity of the constituent parts of new make spirit, with every part of the process affecting the outcome and the wood playing a major role. A couple of years later in 1974, Richard would visit Fettercairn distillery specifically to look at their older whisky stocks and consider the influence of wood on the spirit through time.

In 1974, Richard married Susie. Susie came from the Prosser family who were a very well established Glasgow car dealership. He remembers a speech at his wedding with which he ended by saying “please don’t drink and drive, but if you must, make sure you’re drinking a Whyte and Mackay and driving a Prosser’s car”. The 1970s was a period of change in the industry, not just in the production but also in the working attitudes within Whyte and Mackay. The company moved to new open plan offices that gave a feeling of modernity and excitement. In 1975 Richard was promoted to chief blender and, in September 1976, his first child Sally was born.

Over the next few years Richard worked under Bobby McCall. Bobby was responsible for acquisitions of casks and Richard for blending the products. Richard considers their close professional relationship one of the most rewarding and considers Whyte and Mackay and the aged blends, their finest creation.

The mid to late 1970s was a boom time for the whisky industry and with high sales predictions, the effects of over-production were not felt until a few years too late. There were butter mountains and wine lakes; whisky lochs were soon to follow. In 1983 DCL closed 45 of their distilleries with another ten to follow two years later. Whisky was becoming unfashionable; a drink people’s fathers drank and white spirits were becoming increasingly popular.

During this time, organisations like the 49 Wine and Spirits Club of Scotland and the Institute of Wine and Spirits’ of Scotland became important, bringing members of the industry together. Richard became the president of the “49 Club” in 1980/81 organising dinners, speakers and events; in due course he became president of the institute. He remembers the experience of these two presidencies with great fondness and they had huge significance for him. Although he found public speaking daunting, he began to develop a sense of confidence and a degree of professionalism. He refined and developed this skill during the years of the early 1980s.  Anyone who has seen Richard present will know his confidence and showmanship in speaking and expressing his knowledge and love for Scotch whisky.

In 1986 DCL was taken over by Guinness and as part of that deal DCL had to dispose of several brands. Some of those brands found their way to Whyte and Mackay and into Richard’s portfolio. In 1988 the company decided they needed their own bottling facility, and as their bottler had been so loyal through the years, they bought them. As part of the deal they owned a 49% share in the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre near Edinburgh Castle. Richard even has the model of Friar John Cor and a still in his new office today.

Through the years the company itself has been bought and sold, sometimes giving a great deal of uncertainty. However Gallagher’s takeover in 1990 brought stability and the company bought the Invergordon group in 1993. 1994 was a difficult year for Richard. His father was very with cancer and he passed away. Nor had his professional life been easy with the loss of his directorship, which he had held since 1989 in a restructuring at William Muir, the bonded warehousing and bottling plant. 1994 was also the 500th anniversary of Scotch and there was a competition to see who could create the best blend to commemorate the occasion. All the best blenders entered and on a memorable evening in October, Richard had his confidence renewed as his name was pulled from the envelope.

The following years were difficult for the company. Bought and sold several times, with a complete redesign of their core blend and the loss of many staff, there came an opportunity in 2001 for a management buyout, bringing Whyte and Mackay back to independence. This was Scotland’s largest buyout at £209 million. Whisky as an industry was on the rise again and interest rates were low. But even with these circumstances all was not well. The company name change to Kyndal didn’t help and, after seventeen months, the shareholders had had enough. This was the lowest time in his career, but through all this turbulence Richard kept on keeping the liquid consistent. In 2002 he was rewarded by winning the International Wine and Spirits “distiller of the year” and Whisky Magazine’s “blender of the year”. The Malt Advocate voted him “Industry leader of the year” and the accolade of which Richard is most proud came from Diageo: he was awarded the “Outstanding Achievement in the Scotch Whisky Industry” trophy.

Over the next years there were still more challenges to overcome. However, with management changes the company turned the corner, was sold to United Spirits Ltd and then, in 2014, to Emperador. Through all the changes the whisky has remained the same high quality, and this is down to the one man who has also been there through it all, in the industry for the last fifty years, of which forty seven have been with Whyte and Mackay. There’s been a lot of whisky made during those years, an incredible reputation built; he and his nose are still going strong.

By Colin-Hampden White

How to Invest in Whisky

Words by Colin Hampden-White

Casks at Lagavulin distillery

As we finally recover from the colder weather in the UK, there is a parallel with the chilly investment market. Whisky warms not only the cockles on a cold day, but as the market for alternative investments has heated up, whisky offers potential in this arena too. Colin Hampden-White gives us the lowdown on how to invest in whisky...

Investing in whisky

There are two principle ways to invest in whisky: one is to invest in bottles. These can be old or new bottles, and the brand or distillery of bottle is important. Then come casks of whisky. In the case of casks, the distillery from which the whisky comes is of lesser importance. A good return, between 10% - 15%, can be made from whisky casks from almost any distillery, as the blended whisky market always needs them.

Investing in bottles of whisky

The challenge with bottles is that it’s difficult to invest serious money as you need an awful lot of them to make it worth investing at all. Finding the right bottles, at auction or new releases, takes time and expertise and even then, a return is not guaranteed and you really need to know your shallots from your onions.

Investing in whisky casks

Casks are a different prospect. As blenders will always need whisky, there is a stronger market for casks. Scotch whisky casks are a simple asset, held in bond in Scotland and no duty is levied whilst it stays in bond. As whisky is considered a depreciating asset, there is no capital gains payable on its sale. So how does one buy the right casks? Diversity is the key to good investment portfolio. Casks can be bought freshly-filled to well-aged. A cask at zero age is called a ‘new fill cask’. The liquid is called ‘new make spirit’ and will legally become whisky after three years and a day. Casks can also be bought at any age beyond. The casks become more expensive as they gain maturity and the rate of return grows exponentially the older it gets.

Another consideration is the type of oak the whisky is stored in. Whisky can be stored in what is known as a first fill a refill or a rejuvenated cask. Think of the cask like a tea bag. The first fill is like an unused tea bag which gives out lots of flavour. The refill is a lightly-dunked tea bag. This takes longer to impart flavour to the whisky. Whisky in a first fill cask may be very good for a return on a young whisky, say up to twelve years old. When buying an older cask, a refill will be much better. An old first fill cask may make the whisky taste too woody.

There are blended whiskies that like to have a good percentage of rejuvenated casks. These are much-used casks whose surface wood has little flavour left, so a couple of millimetres are shaved off the inside to expose active wood, ready for reuse. They have a different flavour profile, impart flavour at a similar rate to a first fill cask, so blenders can use the whisky earlier and they are less expensive.

Lastly there are two types of oak cask: European oak and American oak, providing the whisky with different flavours. American oak gives vanilla, coconut and sweeter flavours whilst European oak gives spicy and nutty flavours. European oak casks are much rarer in the industry and are more sought after. They are more expensive, but can give a great rate of return. Around 90% of the Scotch market uses American oak casks and 90% of Scotch sold around the world is blended whisky. So whisky from a European oak cask (ex-Sherry for example) is a sound bet. If the whisky is sold to an independent bottler rather than for blending, and perhaps further maturing before bottling, then a first fill European oak cask would be more desirable.

How do you find whisky casks to buy?

In general terms, the best investment would be a range of casks including new make and aged casks in a mixture of American and European oak. If you’re buying a very old cask or wanting a longer term investment, I would suggest a re-fill cask. So how and where do you find and buy casks? You can’t just rock up to a distillery and pop a cask in the boot. Whisky brokers only deal with the industry, however there are companies who can buy from brokers and do deal with private investors. Of course, you can find brokers on the internet. But for reliability of service and quality of product, you might look at The Whisky Market Ltd. I have been in the whisky industry for many years and have consulted to them for over five years, so they understand the market well.

So settle down one evening with a dram that’s old enough to vote and contemplate owning more than just a bottle or two. Here are some recommendations:

Balvenie Tun 1509 Batch 2

As we move through the batches of Tun 1509, past batches have sold out and become more valuable over time. Batch 7 is out, so finding this batch 2 on the market is a sure fire bet. In the UK batch 6 can still be found, but it won’t hang around for long.

Batch 2 USA
ABV: 50.3%
Size: 750ml
Buy it now for $499.99

Batch 6 UK
ABV: 50.4%
Size: 700ml
Buy it now for £300

Limited edition bottles of Kilchoman can also give good returns in the longer term. Here we have two possibilities. The first is still available in the USA and is sold out in most of Europe and is a vintage expression. By nature there will be only a certain amount of 2007 year old whisky at this age. The second is also a vintage, but from it’s bottling year rather than distillation year. Again as a limited, vintage release this will become rarer as time goes on.

Kilchoman vintage 2007 USA

ABV: 46%
Size: 750ml
Buy it now for $139.99

Kilchoman Fino 2020 UK

ABV: 46%
Size: 700ml
Buy it now for £149.95

For further purchasing at retail, auction and casks these following companies are trusted and well known in their field.

Retail: thewhiskyexchange.com

Auction: scotchwhiskyauction.com & www.whisky.auction

Cask sales: www.casktrade.com

The Mandrake's Waeska Bar

Luxury has a new name. Luxury is a hotel, The Mandrake Hotel to be exact. Located in the heart of London’s West End in a converted RIBA award-winning building, this new hotel is unlike any other. It is a luxurious boutique establishment with more than a touch of the surreal to its design, stimulating soundscapes, and myriad of amenities offered. One of the (many) main attractions happens to be the Waeska Bar. The Bar, which features rare botanical-based cocktails, shares the hotel’s ambiance and is likewise decorated with magnificent objets d’art curated by the hotel’s owner, Rami Fustok.

From mostly small batch distillers across the globe, drinks are served from a talented, practiced team of mixologists, including Walter Pintus, the bar manager, who is both an undisputed master of mixology on the London bar scene and an award-winning bartender. Each cocktail delivers the Mandrake’s inimitable aesthetic—decadent, daring, and refined. Syrups, infusions, garnishes, and bitters are all crafted on site. Even the ice is specially sculpted. Even the cocktail names are matched to the hotel’s hedonistic theme. Every detail is accounted for. One of the drinks highlighted on the menu is the White Witch: a mix of truffle-washed vodka, white bitters, vermouth, and wattleseed tincture. Another such one is the Satyr, made with: Portobello gin, saffron syrup, citrus, dry sherry, and absinthe. Luxury is not only a hotel now, it is a bar: London’s new watering hole, the Waeska Bar.

What is organic Whisky?

Did you know that whisky can be organic? Meet the distillery leading the way: Deanston. Colin Hampden-White, tells all…

In recent times, a few distilleries have been making whisky with organic barley. Benromach have an expression from 2010 which they bottled this year. Laphroaig bottled one for the Highgrove estate and Bruichladdie have an organic whisky from 2009. There is even a distillery which has only just opened which is 100% organic, the Ncn’ean distillery. There is however, a distillery which has been thinking about and producing organic whisky for longer than all of these: Deanston. Deanston has a 15-year-old organic whisky, which means they started making organic whisky as long ago as 2003 when whisky was only just starting to grow in popularity in the way it is today.

How Do You Make Organic Whisky?

To make organic whisky, the barley or course must be organic, which is more expensive. The casks also must be organic. They need to be scraped and charred deep enough so that the spirit doesn’t come into contact with any non-organic material, so the easiest way to make sure of this is to use ‘virgin oak’ casks. Deanston finish their organic spirit in virgin oak casks, which gives is a lovely, extra sweetness.

Virgin oak casks are made from American oak which have not previously held any other liquid before the new make spirit is placed in them. Lastly, and by far the most difficult part of the process, is the cleansing of the distillery itself. To be certified as an organic whisky, the spirit can not be created in the stills if a non-organic run of spirit has been passed through them. The easiest way to manage this is to make organic spirit directly after the distillery has been cleaned during its maintenance period, usually over Christmas. However, Deanston still do sometimes make organic whisky at other times of year, which impacts on the main production. I asked Dr Kirsty McCallum, Deanston’s master blender, why they make organic whisky, she told me there are two reasons:

Deanston Makes Organic Whisky For Two Reasons

The first reason was that the distillery was founded in 1967 by entrepreneurs who decided that creating organic whisky continued on the entrepreneurial spirit. The second reason however, is because it tastes good, with a slightly different character to their other whiskies; more floral and delicate.

Ideally, Deanston would like to have their organic barley grown in the local area giving the whisky an even stronger sense of place. One thing is for certain though, if they manage to create such a whisky, it is going to be delicious.

RRP £95.50 Find it here.

What is Peated Whisky?

Peated whisky: because what’s the point of drinking whisky if it hasn’t been heavily flavoured by thousands of years of decaying organic matter?

I mean sure, when you put it like that maybe you can understand why peat tends to split whisky drinkers into two distinct camps. Some compare it to licking an ambulance brake pedal, and some compare it to licking an ambulance brake pedal and are genuinely excited by the idea. Regardless of whether this appeals, if you want to learn more about whisky, you need to learn a little about peat, because this mysterious substance has the amazing ability to impart rich and unique flavours into your glass.

So how does peating whisky work?

Dried peat has been used as fuel in Scotland for hundreds of years. Peat bogs are naturally occurring ‘carbon sinks’ i.e. areas that accumulate and store carbon-containing chemical compounds for an indefinite period. In fact, peat is so good at this, that it is the most efficient form of carbon sink on the planet and dried peat will produce more energy than coal when burnt. As well as this, peat is unique to bogs, mires and moorland – the sort of areas that appear in quite high frequency in, shall we say, the damper areas of Scotland, such as the north-west Highlands and the islands of Islay and Jura.

Thanks to these excellent energy rates, peat has therefore been used in the whisky making process for hundreds of years, and the primary way that peat’s distinctive flavour characteristics make their way into your dram is through its use as a fuel source in the malting process.

At this stage in production, the germinating process which has been started by soaking and turning the barley needs to be stopped, and this is done by the application of heat. Traditionally this was provided by a peat-fired kiln which caused the malted barley to absorb a significant quantity of peat smoke (depending on the drying time and the distiller’s preference). Perhaps surprisingly, this flavour is so strong, so persistent and so recognisable that it survives the entire distillation process, making its way through the mash tun, washbacks, stills and warehouse to remain detectable in your glass of whisky.

Is Islay the only place for peated whisky? And where is peat used?

Now, when people talk about peated whisky they generally think of Islay malts, but the use of peat isn’t limited to Islay now, and certainly wasn’t in the past. A number of factors means that peated whisky is still mainly linked to the islands and western highlands however. This is partly because these are the areas where peat preponderates, but also because many Lowland and Speyside distilleries took the opportunity to switch to firing their kilns with coke (a processed form of coal) when access to the railways made this a viable and cheaper option. As a result, for many years, the perception has been that if you want a peated whisky you need to head to Islay.

So what does peat bring to whisky?

Peat is whisky terroir

In a very literal sense, peat is terroir (take that, wine!). As a result, different peat will impart different flavours, and different distilleries will use peat for different length of time when drying their malt. If you want to get technical, the concentration of peat in whisky can be measured by PPM (phenol parts per million). Phenols are the class of compounds in peat smoke which are retained by the malted barley and their prevalence therefore has a big impact on taste. On Islay, whisky can range from 1-2ppm up to 54ppm. What does this mean? In terms of tasting notes, a peated whisky is likely to give you sulphur, smoked meats, iodine, rich bonfire smoke.  If this sounds good to you, perhaps you should explore some Islay whiskies?

Where to start your peat odyssey

Why not start at Lagavulin?

The oldest distillery on Islay can trace its (unofficial and highly illegal) history back to a collection of small bothy distilleries in Lagganmhoullin dating from 1742. These were brought together into a legitimate business in 1816, which means that the brand has been producing highly-regarded peated single malt whisky for at least two hundred years now.

The old settlement of Lagganmhoullin is now a small town on the Lagavulin bay where the distillery is positioned - open to the wild weather of the north Atlantic, which gives the spirit a lot of its coastal aromas of seaweed and smoked fish.  This coastal spot also provides a distribution route with the distillery owning its own Clyde puffer up until 1956, meaning barley could be brought in by sea and finished spirit sent back down to Glasgow with just a slight detour around the Mull of Kintyre.

Both the peat and water are locally sourced, as they always have been - the Illeachs wouldn’t have it any other way – and the two intertwine on their slow descent to the distillery from Lochan Sholum, inland and 200m above sea level. From here the water flows two and a half miles to the distillery, soaking up moss and peat, but don’t get confused.  At this point the peat contributes only colour and a slight tang to the water – as it takes on the same shade as the finished whisky – the smoky flavour comes almost exclusively from the kiln.

Lagavulin no longer malts its own barley – the floor maltings closed in 1974, but they procure their own specific recipe from the Port Ellen maltings. It is dried over peat for a high proportion of the total drying time giving a final phenol count of around 37ppm.

After the excitement of distillation, the spirit rests in the coastal warehouses, seawater pooling on the earthen floors and breathes steadily for 8, 12 or 16 years before bottling. Maturation allows the spirit to soak up the atmosphere of this unique setting and takes just a slight edge off the wild smoky flavour of all that centuries old organic matter. Yum.

Try these classic whiskies from Lagavulin

Lagavulin 16 Year Old, 43% ABV, around £49 for 70cl – Long-time standard bearer of the range, dominated by Lapsang Souchong, hints of pipe tobacco, smoked fish and iodine.  A classic Islay single malt.

Lagavulin 8 Year Old, 48% ABV, around £52 for 70cl - Originally a limited-edition to mark the distillery’s bicentenary in 2016, but now part of the core range this expression is all woodsmoke, tobacco and pepper.

Lagavulin Distillers Edition, 43% ABV, around £74 for 70cl - Double matured in Pedro Ximenez casks, this is a mellow Lagavulin with flavours of seaweed, Christmas cake and sea salt.

Want to see The Three Drinkers cutting peat at Laguvalin in the sunshine? Watch The Three Drinkers do Scotch Whisky, now streaming on Amazon Prime!