Islay Malt Whisky
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At one time considered to have only heavy, pungent, smokey and assertive Whiskies; but now has lighter, fruitier contributions.
There are eight active distilleries on the island, as of early 2008, with a ninth being made ready for production. Islay is a centre of "whisky tourism", and hosts a "Festival of Malt and Music" known as Fèis Ìle each year at the end of May, with events and tastings celebrating the cultural heritage of the island.
The whiskies of the distilleries along the southeastern coast of the island, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg, have the strong peaty character which is considered to be characteristic of the Islay malts, and is ascribed both to the water from which the whisky is made and to the peating levels of the barley. Many describe this as a "medicinal" flavour. They also possess notes of iodine, seaweed and salt. Caol Ila, on the northern side of the island, across from Jura, produces a strongly peated whisky as well.
There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground with Islay malts – it’s either love or hate. And some distilleries make a feature of this, for example Laphroaig, “Are You Ready For It”. Very smoky, very heavy, very peaty.
Legend has it that this malt was the only licit distillate allowed into the USA during prohibition (1920-1933: see Al Capone and Elliot Ness!) Submitted to the Surgeon General and Chief Customs Officer of the time as being for medicinal purposes only, these two worthy gentlemen are reported to have commented “Anything as disgusting as this, can only be for medicinal purposes!” Some distilleries now vie with each other to produce the most heavily peated of them all, e.g. from Ardbeg, Supernova and Corrywreckan, to name but two! Broadly speaking these heavily peated malts appeal mostly to the Germans and Scandinavians, but of course we also have our own “Ardbeg freaks” in this country, as they like to call themselves.
There used to be 8 Islay malts but only 7 working distilleries! Port Ellen is closed never to be re-opened and hence most bottlings have now become highly sought after for their collectability, and of course, their palatability. Islay malts have always attracted a premium, because “a little goes a long way” in blending. It should not be forgotten that around 95% of all malts go into blends!
There has been one new opening – Kilchoman – just over 3 years ago so now there are 8 working and one very closed distillery on this very wind-swept island. Just for the record they are:
- Lagavulin (for some time the largest selling malt in France.)
- Laphroaig
- Ardbeg (making great strides since being bought by famous perfume makers; the world brand manager actually lived in Cupar!)
- Caol Ila (whose 18 year old is superb.)
- Bruichladdich (still in search of an identity – it reinvents itself approximately 28 times a year!)
- Bunnahabhain (interesting because it is the lightest and fruitiest of the Islays. Less interesting because it used to be Ronald Reagan’s favourite whisky.)
- Bowmore (a superb whisky, saved from closure by the Japanese.)
- Port Ellen (already commented on, but a lovely whisky if you ever get the chance to drink it. The last release, No. Nine, at thirty years old was a snip at £230 when it first came out a few months ago, now fetching £300+.)
- And finally Kilchoman (about which I do not know much except that it is new and very small and quite sought after.)
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