The power of Islay malts can be overwhelming for less
experienced noses and palates. Most Islay whiskies are
very characteristic and immediately recognisable because
of
their trademark peaty character. There's just one
notable exception; Bunnahabhain. This is the only distillery
on the entire island that produces an unpeated single malt.
The Bruichladdich distillery
produces a fairly lightly peated
whisky, much subtler than the heavy spirit of most other
Islay distilleries. However, they also produce two heavily
peated varieties; Port Charlotte and Octomore. These two
brands should appeal more to peatheads.
Other Islay distilleries like Ardbeg have experimented with
different peating levels
too. They didn't carry out these
experiments at the distillery though - all the malted barley
for the distilleries on Islay is produced at the Port Ellen
maltings on the South shore of the island.
Please note that the peaty character of most Islay malts isn't a real 'regional' trait.
In these modern times, distilleries on the mainland can produce peat monsters too,
as Brora and Benriach have proven. What's more, I imagine that the whiskies that
were distilled at many mainland distilleries during the 18th and 19th century
were
much peatier than their modern successors. Before railways and electricity arrived
in the Highlands peat was an important source of fuel; at the time there were not
many forests in the area where distillers could chop wood to fuel their fires.
The weather on Islay can be rough, but the island provided
a fairly safe haven
for
malt whisky distilleries. During the economic crisis of the early 1980's, many of the
Scottish distilleries were forced to close down. Especially 1983 was a bad year for
single malt lovers; over a dozen distilleries were mothballed or closed permanently
in that year alone. Port Ellen was the only distillery on Islay to suffer closure, and
it has survived as a maltings facility that supplies the other distilleries on Islay.
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Distilleries in the Islay region
The fact that Islay is a small island doesn't mean there aren't a lot of differences between the malts from these
eight distilleries. All three 'Kildalton'
distilleries (Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig) produce powerful, peaty malts
but they all have their own accents. Medicinal notes like iodine and band aids usually betray a Laphroaig while a
combination of fruit, peat and organics is the mark of an Ardbeg. The Port Ellen distillery isn't active anymore, but
most drams I enjoyed were in the 'Kildalton' style as well.
Caol Ila usually has plenty of peat as well, but especially at a younger age it's lighter and more 'transparent' than
the Kildalton malts. Well, that used to be the case in the
1990's at least - nowadays the Caol Ila single malts seem
to be a little 'dirtier'
with more organics and meaty notes - which is good... That leaves the three B's which are all
far less peaty, Bowmore (more smoky than peaty), Bruichladdich (lightly peated) and Bunnahabhain (unpeated).
Please note that these differences in 'house style'
don't seem to be caused by regional factors. Except for the three 'Kildalton' distilleries, I haven't found any obvious connection between the style and character of an Islay single malt and the location of the distillery. Choices that are made during the distillation process, the maturation process and the cask selection seem much more important factors than location.
And that puts the whole 'geography' issue into perspective...
Islay is the birthplace of the peatiest malts in the world, even though
more and more peat monsters
are distilled on the Scottisch mainland.
As you may have picked up before, I'm not into subtlety - at least not
as far as single malts are concerned. That's why I love those 'in yer
face' Islay malts; peat, smoke, salt, seaweed, iodine, liquorice, sweat
and leather are just some of the typical Islay traits.
Needless to say, my trip to Islay in 2005 (together with a contingent
of almost a dozen other certified malt maniacs) was a real pilgrimmage
for me - or rather:
a pildrammage. The picture at the left shows Serge,
Olivier and Davin dramming at a rocky beach on the Oa peninsula. The
trip was a truly wonderful experience; I got to see all distilleries except
for Caol
Ila. I can really recommend visiting Islay during the week long
Islay Festival. Plenty of time to soak up the wonderful scenery...
In case you won't be able to make the trip to Islay 'physically' in the foreseeable future, I can heartily
recommend the book 'Peat Smoke & Spirit' from Andrew Jefford. It is very well
written and tells
a lot about the long - and sometimes tragic - history of the Island. This book enables you to make
the trip 'virtually' - and will probably inspire you to try and make the trip yourself a.s.a.p. too...
The current population of the island is circa 3,500 people, who call themselves 'Ileachs'.
It's fascinating to learn that this tiny island once was the centre of a considerable empire. From
the 14th
to the 16th century, most of the west coast of Scotland was ruled by the 'Lordship of
the Isles'. They controlled their realm from Finlaggan on Islay. And that's not the only claim to
fame from Islay; a flint arrowhead
that was found near the town of Bridgend dated from circa
10,500 BC, which makes it the earliest evidence of human presence found so far in Scotland.
