Cheers

stokejay · July 7 2017 at 1:44AM

Hello all. I'm a 24 year old alcohol enthusiast( sounds so much better than alcoholic!!) from England and ever since I started drinking booze I've had an affinity for Whisky.

HOWEVER.

After trying a fair few peated whiskies, I just cannot understand the appeal. I would genuinely prefer to drink Bacardi Breezers, mouthwash or some other ghastly toxically coloured drink for the rest of my life than have to commit to peated whiskies, and I just feel like I am missing something.

Is this common or do I just need to soldier on and give them a fair shot?

I just don't get how a Macallan can taste like honey-drenched deliciousness and be just as popular as a Talisker, which to me only tastes like surgical bandages.

I feel like i'm walking away from a whole world of whisky options if I just ignore peated whiskies, but just don't understand the appeal. Everything I have read on other forums and reviews basically echos the belief that ' These whiskies are for real men, and only real whisky drinkers understand, and if you don't enjoy peated whiskies, you just don't understand whisky.'

Hopefully you guys can shed some light on what I should be looking out for when tasting and what I should try to notice when I drink. Or is this a common thought and I should just stick to the sweet stuff? Please don't just reiterate the mindset of ' you don't appreciate real whisky'. I may be young at a mere 24, but during my years of studying at Universities around the world I feel I have drunk enough to fill a lifetime, and am certainly a lover of a good dram!!

Educate me please, dear forum posters!

Apologies for the rambling, I may have worked my way through several glasses of the good stuff while writing!!

kroman · July 7 2017 at 2:42AM

@stokejay

Welcome to the forum.

I think you will find this community to be a great group of fellow enthusiasts who encourage quality over quantity, responsibility over excess, and assisting you in discovering what you personally enjoy instead of dictating what you ought to enjoy. With this in mind, I think we would all stress two things: 1) No one here will judge you for not enjoying peated scotches, and 2) Good whisky is meant to be enjoyed responsibly. I understand that you're (hopefully) just trying to make a point, but drinking a lifetime's worth of alcohol by the time you're 24 is not the kind of culture we would endorse or promote on this forum. Now...

I personally did not like peated scotches when I first started. Granted, my first experience was Ardbeg 10, which is pretty strong as far as smoky whiskies are concerned. Gradually, though, I discovered that I love peated whiskies that are finished in barrels other than straight bourbon. For example, while I still don't like Ardbeg 10, I LOVE Ardbeg Uigeadail. Laphroaig 10yr and quarter cask are not enjoyable to me, but I'll have the triple wood all day long.

If you are looking to expand your horizons, though, I would start gradually.

Benromach 10 and Highland Park 12 might be good places to start for you. They are fruity and sweet, yet still very gently peated...so much so that smoky whisky lovers (or peat heads as we call them) might not even notice it. But for someone like you, you might have an easier time noticing it. The peat is gentle enough to add complexity to the whisky without making it feel like you're drinking "out of an ashtray".

Scotch is expensive, though, so my personal advice would be to stay away from buying peated whiskies altogether. I nstead try a dram of the peated stuff at a bar or with a friend if you ever get curious; that way you're not potentially wasting too much money.

Hope that helps a little!

bedlamborn · July 7 2017 at 7:00AM

@stokejay

@Kroman gave some good suggestions. If you are in a doubt. Always try a whisky in a bar before buying a bottle.

For me peated or smoky whiskies are special. As some I love and some I cannot drink Because some is just licking and ashtray or having ash in ones mouth as the dominant taste. So I only buy smoky whiskies from certain distilleries that I know that I like.

But it is normal not to like everything so if you don't like smoky whiskies then you have a lot of whiskies that is not smoky. There is so much to try and so little time :smile: Over the years myself have gone from drinking mostly peated whiskies to drinking a lot of unpeated whiskies.

horst_s_2 · July 8 2017 at 7:10AM

@stokejay

Whisky lovers or connoisseurs - as they often call themselves - are on a constant journey. A journey for the next different whisky, which shows new and surprising aromas. Smoke from burnt peat is one component in Scotch whisky. It was in the whisky since the beginning 500 to 700 years ago. Because the only fuel for the fires of the drying and distillation had been the peat from the mosses.

When modern times arrived the peat fire was substituted by burning coal and the smoke vanished from the whiskies. But on the poor remote islands they still used peat. Therefore the whiskies from Islay are most often heavily peated.

I myself like the smoke, if it is not to intense. There are a lot of differences in the smoke, because the uncomplete combustion of the peat results in hundreds and thousands of individual phenols.

What I do not like is a too intense phenolic taste. Have a miniature of the Laphroaig 10yo at home or a dram of it in a pub. That is one of the ultimate stinkers. All others lie in between.

[Deleted User] · July 19 2017 at 6:42PM

@stokejay

For most of us, our life experiences with smells and tastes do not prepare us for the very different flavor experience of a heavily peated whisky. Some whisky enthusiasts dive right into the peat bog and really enjoy peaty drams from the start, but I think they are the exception. Most of us require a period of acclimatization to come to grips with the peat monsters.

That acclimatization could take a couple of forms:

1) Drink a small amount of heavily peated whisky several times a week until you become used to the flavor experience and can sort out the other aromas and tastes lying beneath the peat. Water for dilution is your friend in this endeavor. If you still find the whiskies off-putting after a month or so, then you just might be someone who doesn't enjoy heavy peat. If that is the case, you will likely still have a better understanding of and appreciation for the milder, integrated peat of, say, a Benromach 10 year old.

2) Get a few miniature bottles of heavily peated whiskies, and add a few drops to a normal dram of an unpeated whisky that you enjoy. Try this for a week or two and see whether you come to appreciate and enjoy a small amount of peat flavor. If so, gradually increase the amount of peated whisky you are adding over time until you find a sweet spot that you like best. You can then purchase some new whiskies that approximate that level of peat.

Ultimately, whether you enjoy heavy peat or not is down to personal preference, and no one's opinion matters but your own. I would persevere for a bit though; you might find that you acquire a taste for peat. :smile: