Savor the Smoky Sweetness: A Guide to Islay Peat and Sherry Elements
The Elements of Islay Peat and Sherry whiskey is a small masterpiece, a brusque distillate with just enough peat to appeal to peat fans but also soft and super sherried, softened by a shock treatment to emphasize its syrupy gluttony.
It is a blend of medicinal, pungent, and salty Islay single malts to which a forced maturation in ex-sherry casks has been impressed to find more roundness, more fruit, and a marked decadent and oxidized note.
If you like peaty Ardbeg or Octomore, you might not like this. This one is more rich and flirty, but for less than 65 euros and a lot of charm, it’s worth trying.
Let’s say it’s the meeting point between an oxidative and mature Macallan-style maturation and a typical Islay punch in the face of salt and peat. The synthesis is perfect, simple, even if a little stylized.
It’s kind of good for both sides of the whisky Taliban, and it could be a drink to have on a cool autumn night, maybe in front of the first fire in the fireplace, that will get people talking. If you then combine it with a rib or roast chestnuts, it’s fantastic.
Organoleptic characteristics of the Elements of Islay Peat And Sherry
smoky nose, dominated by a creamy and ripe fruit of caramelized figs and dates baked and then drowned in shortcrust pastry macerated in burnt caramel and sandalwood. Rose petal jam with ginger, burned on an aromatic gas torch from Kazakhstan. Toffee and dark chocolate drippings.
What saves it from predictable stylization is the call of peat, salt that rises from the bowels of the glass. That ancestral and howling call from maelstrom of salt and rock, of clam and camp fire, burnt wood and sea breeze.
It is tannic and smooth on the palate, with notes of red fruit dripping with syrup and medicinal flavors blended with citrus. Ample structure, endless salt, herbaceous finish with returns of sweet spices and nutty tones of heavy sherry.
Price
65 euros: an acceptable price.
