Blind Tasting No. 12 Recap
Sneaky Peat
I had such a phenol-menal time this weekend during Blind Tasting No. 12: Sneaky Peat and I have definitely overused that pun. Get it? Because phenols come from peat smoke and give peated whiskies their smoky flavors. Anyways… During the tasting we discussed where peat makes its way into the whiskey making process and how it impacts the flavor profile of whiskies. Typically peated whiskies come from the Islay region of Scotland (ex: Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg), but we tasted three peated whiskies from different parts of the world. Sneaky sneaky. Here’s what we tried:
10th Street peated American single malt whisky finished in port casks is produced by 10th Street Distillery in San Jose, CA. They use 100% peated malt from Scotland for their mash and double pot distillation. They age their malt in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels and then finish it in California port casks. The port casks gave this whiskey a wonderful rose gold color and the notes of port were prominent. The members picked up red fruits, banana bread, walnut, strawberry and pancakes in the nose. The palate had notes of fruits, cherry, sherry, wine with whispers of peat.
Paul John Bold peated Indian single malt whisky is produced by John Distilleries in Goa, India. The barley used for their whiskies is grown in India and malted using peat imported from Islay, Scotland. Their Bold expression is pot distilled and aged for 6 years in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. Out of the three, this whisky had the most obvious peat influence with medicinal, plastic, iodine, cough syrup and cinnamon on the nose. The palate was simple with briney, smoky, herbal and baking soda notes. It was everyone's least favorite of the tasting due to its simplicity.
The Legendary Dark Silkie Irish whiskey is bottled by Slaibh Liag Distillery in Donegal, Ireland. This is a blend of triple distilled peated single malts, double distilled single malts and grain whiskey that are rumored to be produced by the Cooley Distillery. Because this is a blended Irish whiskey, the peat influence is minimal. The members picked up mint, leather, sweet vanilla, bacon, caramel, maple, molasses, kettle corn and green bean aromas on the nose. The palate had notes of honey nut cheerios and pistachios that have gone bad with a slightly medicinal edge.
Silkie and 10th Street single malt were both crowd pleasers and showed that peated whiskies don’t always have to be overpoweringly smoky (even though some of us peat heads can’t get enough of it). The members did a phenol-menal job picking out a variety of flavors and aromas. And remember this tasting was completely blind. Tasting anything blind is never easy!
When it came time to deliberate, Paul John and Silkie seemed to be the most difficult to identify. 10th Street’s color almost immediately gave it away. But because Paul John was so simple, some members thought that meant it could have been triple distilled, blended with grain whiskey and/or was young. Whereas Silkie tasted more complex and therefore was assumed to be the older of those two. This caused a number of members to mix up Silkie and Paul John. However, four of the participants guessed all three whiskeys correctly!
