The blog is back, for real this time. No room for fanfare, just whiskey. Today's return offering is a blended scotch from Scotland (Fife, to be precise) that's made from 16 different single malt varietals. According to the folks at Wemyss ("Weems"), Peat Chimney is particularly heavy on a 12 year Islay strain -- hence the name.
This is the only time you'd want to be something akin to a chimney sweep. Read on for scotch.
Blended scotch whiskies are getting to be more and more popular -- an interesting development if you care about this sort of thing, and a notable shift from consumer habits in the past. Usually the higher-tier distilleries in Scotland would focus exclusively on single malt offerings, unless they were owned by Diageo (looking at you, for example, Talisker) and had to contribute to blended scotch whiskeys (a young form of Talisker gives Johnnie Red its backbone).
Now, though, smaller and craft-oriented distilleries are returning to blends in greater numbers than we've seen in some time. Wemyss Malts is one such example, and their Peat Chimney makes for an interesting blended experience.
Coloring is nice, strong caramel, though likely artificial (didn't come in a box/sleeve). Nothing to note here.
On the nose, there is a strong, well-defined, but not overwhelming/raw aroma of peat smoke. Surprise. Sea salt follows, along with some toffee and burnt sugar flirting in towards the end. It's not as aggressive as the name "Peat Chimney" might suggest, but that's not a bad thing. It's pleasant, well crafted, on point.
A sip yields a mixture of standard Islay flavors: peat smoke and salt, but there are also some herbal notes thrown into the mix. Juniper and eucalyptus pass through, along with light pepper through the mid-palate before the dram settles into general alcoholic warmth. Just a touch of nutmeg, maybe some cloves are present in the middle too, alongside a standard charred oak flavor.
The finish gives off less of a burn than you'd expect from something labeled as an 8 year, but remembering it's a blend and largely made from an Islay 12 makes things make sense.
Overall, this is a really nice dram -- a very pleasant weeknight sipper. For those who are peat neophytes, this'd be a good stepping stone towards the Islay heavyweights like Ardbeg, Laphroaig, and Lagavulin. Even if you like the unapologetic, slap-in-the-face peatiness of these heady Islays, Peat Chimney is a nice sipper that gives you some of the classic Islay flavor without the intensity of a scotch that was legally sold during Prohibition because its flavor was so weird, it had to be medicinal. This blended scotch takes home a very solid 90 points.
Anyways, there will be more to come from us at Books and Beer. Look to Tim for the next post.
