Octomore 6.3 Islay Barley 2009

One of the most important ways you can tell how peaty a whisky will be is to find out the phenol levels in the distilled spirit which is often refereed to in PPM (parts per million). In short, the higher the PPM levels, the peatier the whisky will be to taste.

The human body is especially sensitive to smoky aromas with most people able to detect anything above 0.25 PPM.

To put this in context, a typical smoky/peaty Scotch might contain anything from 10 to 30 PPM, with 25-30 PPM smelling and tasting quite strongly of peat smoke.

The Octomore range from Bruichladdich has always pushed the envelope on phenol levels and this latest release is almost 10 times peatier than a typical heavily peated single malt!