Big Peat

Big Peat is not a distillery but a blended malt created by Douglas Laing & Co, the family-run independent bottler based in Glasgow. It brings together single malts from distilleries on the island of Islay, the Scottish whisky region best known for peated malt. The brand is recognisable by the cartoon fisherman on its label.

The style is in the name: smoky, coastal and medicinal, with the sweetness and salt that Islay malts often show. Douglas Laing has named Ardbeg, Caol Ila and Bowmore among the components, along with a little of the closed Port Ellen distillery in earlier releases.

Big Peat belongs to Douglas Laing's Remarkable Regional Malts, a family of blended malts that each represent one Scotch whisky region. Douglas Laing chooses the casks and does the vatting, and the core bottling is presented at 46% without chill filtration.

Beyond the core bottling, buyers will meet the Small Batch release, aged versions such as the 12 year old, and a steady run of limited editions: Christmas and winter editions, a Halloween edition, a Hanukkah edition, Feis Ile festival bottlings, the 15th Anniversary Red Wine Cask Finish, and older releases such as The Dutch Editions 20 Years and the 26 Years Platinum Edition. Several of these seasonal releases are bottled at cask strength, so check the label for the strength.