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Peat

Over the years, the amount of peat used has been reduced to various levels for entirely commercial reasons.

In 1961, the kilns at Bruichladdich were removed and subsequently malted barley was purchased from the newly constructed Port Ellen maltings, that used mainly non flavour enhancing coal as fuel. Since 1961 Bruichladdich has used lightly peated malt.

From this time, all Islay distilleries have obtained the majority of their malted barley, either from Port Ellen maltings or elsewhere. A token amount, essentially for touristic reasons, is still malted in situ by distilleries such as Bowmore. – and it is worth seeing how it is done.

At Port Ellen Maltings, as elsewhere, varying amounts of peat can be added to the standard fuel, according to the specific requirements of the customer distillery, and their desired phenolic content – or peatiness. In recent years the more heavily peated whiskies of Islay have reduced the phenolic content to appeal to a wider audience, perhaps.

Current peating levels used on Islay (expressed as ‘parts per million’ phenolic content) are believed to be roughly:

Bruichladdich zero (2001 – 10, 2002 - 5)
Bunnahabhain 10
Coal Ila 15
Bowmore 20
Laphroaig 25
Lagavulin 30
Port Charlotte 35
Ardbeg 35
Octomore 80

Octomore II - The Beast 167

Any distillery can use peated barley, however heavily peated they want, anywhere in Scotland. It is not reserved exclusively for Islay.

What is Peat?
The decayed vegetation of bog land anaerobically decomposed over thousands of years and partially carbonised by chemical changes to a sort of precursor to coal.

The vegetation includes mosses, bog myrtle, bog cotton, heather, sedges and grasses. For it to develop, the climate must be cold and wet, the drainage must be poor and the ground poorly aerated. The result is an acidic bog. There are environmental concerns about destroying peat bogs. The whisky industry however uses a small amount and it is therefore not so environmentally damaging. Some peat bogs are 10,000 years old, the layer of peat being as deep as nine metres, sitting like a sponge on top of the bedrock.

In the traditional hand cutting method, the growing sward is removed, and replaced where the previously dug peats have been taken, ensuring that the sward continues to grow – albeit a metre lower down than before. The peats from under the surface (the ‘top’) are crumbly, rooty and oily, which is what the maltsters want for kilning. The deeper peats, the ‘second’, are darker and burn hotter, and the deepest of all (the ‘third’ ) about four to five feet below the surface, dry hard and black, almost like coal. These are the best domestic peats.

The peat is then sliced with a cow-horn topped peat spade, a fal in Gaelic, making an evocative ripping, tearing sound, as the roots are cut. A wet, slippery, spongy black rectangle is removed (a one foot peat represents about 3 thousand years of time) and is placed on the sward. The individual peats are then spread out to dry, where they shrink by two thirds in size as they dry over the summer months.

Mechanical cutting is now more efficient, with a plough-like device towed behind a tractor.

The smoke produced by peat is highly aromatic and oily, and if malt is dried over it, these aromas – called ‘phenols’ by chemists – stick to the grains (coal smoke does not) and ultimately flavours the whisky made from them.