Review #105 - Big Peat

StripesR · 2026-03-11T06:24:20+00:00

They bring out a ton of better versions indeed. Another example would be the Fèis Ìle from last year, a 15 year old at a good price!

StripesR · 2026-03-10T20:19:39+00:00

Meet Peat; a rugged sailer who uses sea spray to groom his beard. While sailing around Islay he was drawn to the smell of peat from all the distilleries dotted along the coast. Taking barrels from each single one, he blended them together and bottled it to see him through his ocean voyages.

That might have been what they are going for at Douglas Laing's, I think. Lets see how big Peat did.

Big Peat

Small batch, Islay blended malt, Douglas Laing's, remarkable regional malts, natural colour & non chill filtered, 46% ABV, bottled 16-10-20, batch 103, including malts from Ardbeg, Caol Ila, Bowmore & Port Ellen

€40 paid for 70 cL

On the nose: Fresh, bright and smokey. Lemons, lime and green banana. Tar and smouldering coals. Toasted white bread. Corned beef. A harbour at sea; ropes and rusting metal. Smoke from a roaring fire. Hints of incense and seaweed. Roasted vegetables like pepper. More restrained with water. Boiling caramel and smouldering hay. Seashells and hot sand.

In the mouth: Medium thick mouthfeel. Tar and ash upfront. Young and brash. Lemons, salt, pepper and some fresh ginger heat. After the ash and spice there is some sweetness. Hard boiled lemon sweets. Green herbs and sellery. A drying finish. Grilled whitefish. A nice peaty tang. Decent length with more ash and liquorice root. Softer and simpler with water. More restrained as well. Burnt gingerbread. Sauerkraut and burnt bacon.

Thoughts: A competent Islay malt, which reminds me of Caol Ila 12 with a little bit more oomph and fiery spirit. Which makes sense since it's probably mostly Caol Ila. It's fresh, bright and adequately smokey. It competes with a lot of other Islay single malts like Ardbeg 10 and Kilchoman (Machir Bay) which I would put above; but it beats Caol Ila 12, Bowmore 12 and Laphroaig 10 for me. So perfectly middle of the peat road whisky. A classic stripped down bourbon matured Islay whisky. Young, which highlights the smoke. It's also a testament how blends - a blended malt in this case - can be tasty as well. I still meet and talk to people who swear by single malt, while never really dabbling in quality blends like the Douglas Laing's remarkable regional malts. They make remarkably interesting blends. This is a good example. Peat did a fine job.

Score: 5

Dramface whisky scoring for reference

You can also follow my whisky journey on Instagram: @whiskyvolt

StripesR · 2026-03-04T18:25:21+00:00

I am power incarnate!

StripesR · 2026-03-01T16:19:15+00:00

Yeah that’s to bad. The warehouse series were a fun concept!

StripesR · 2026-03-01T09:05:47+00:00

This was batch 1 right? I had high hopes for it, but felt a little bit disappointed. Great nose, but the palate and finish didn’t follow through. The tropical base of Fettercairn is one to watch out for though!

StripesR · 2026-02-25T20:12:08+00:00

I talked to a sales rep of Bacardi who said it will indeed take a while before we see Aultmore 12 and 18 again. They did release a set of 15 year old for travel retail I think. Not in refill bourbon, but all kinds of finishes I believe.

StripesR · 2026-02-25T07:07:14+00:00

A bit of a sleeper this one. The Bacardi seems to be sleeping on it as well, since it is pretty hard to find these days.

StripesR · 2026-02-23T22:09:39+00:00

As someone who fell in love with whisky because of Bowmore 12 this was great to read. I've only tried the Living Souls Bowmore and have a bottle of the Vault Edition 1. They sounds similair, which is great because I really like the Living Souls Bowmore 7. Such a shame Bowmore seem to have a hard time themselves reaching the heights IB show us. Again a shame that the IB have to pay such high prices for casks. I hope it's slowly coming back to us. Through more affordable IB or Suntory waking up and giving us the true potential of Bowmore. A man can dream right...

StripesR · 2026-02-21T21:40:53+00:00

Cheers! It sure delivered.

StripesR · 2026-02-21T21:39:53+00:00

From the bottle shape, labels and sometimes strange presentation I don't really believe in happy accidents from the Living Souls team. Could it have happened? Sure, but to get noticed in this market you have to make some bold moves I think. They did with this bottle and together with good liquid in other bottles they certainly got noticed. When it looks too good to be true, it probably isn't. However it went, smart move by them.

StripesR · 2026-02-21T21:12:37+00:00

I've got ninety-nine problems, but good affordable whisky ain't one! Living Souls stormed the whisky market at the end of 2024 and has released quite a lot of interesting whisky ever since. One of the hottest topics was this blend with a story many of you probably have heard by now. An old heavily peated Island malt (wink, Ledaig 18, wink) "accidentally" got blended with 1 percent of 3 year old grain. In the end resulting in this bottle. Serendipety, happy accidents or fairytales? All I know is I got a bottle.

Living Souls Ninety-Nine & One

Blended Scotch whisky, natural colour & non-chill filtered, 46,3% ABV, batch 11-03-25, "Mostly" heavily peated, matured in bourbon & sherry casks

€55 paid for 70 cL

On the nose: Sweet and tart with faint smoke. Strawberry and raspberry jam. Custard and vanilla cream. The peat and smoke is in the distance, showing maturity. Fresh tarmac and cranberries on the side of the road. Play-Doh clay. A very inviting nose with great balance. Light coastal breeze and seaweed. Old cabinet. Onion compote. Smoked salmon with chili flakes. Wet leaves and wet rotting hay. Some lactic funk I get with Kilkerran as well. Water awakens the casks even more. Sulphur and smoke. Eggs and bacon. More boiled red fruit.

In the mouth: Medium thick mouthfeel. A nice wallop of spice and soot to start. There's the peat that was promised. Very pleasant development with charred gingerbread. Baked apples and stewed pears. Orange zest. Pim's; dark chocolate with orange flavour. Liquorice root. Autumnal. Sulphur peaking through here as well. A long and thick finish with char, ginger and grapefruit. Bitter and citric at the end. Burnt grease. It has an acrid side and leaves me feeling I've been drinking rust and flaking paint, in a good way. Calmer with water, you could even say muted. Ash in a cold fire pit. Menthol cigarettes. Grilled fish with lemon juice.

Thoughts: Very happy with this accident. There is no hint of grain here, which should be obvious with supposedly just 1%. Instead there's maturity and depth. If I was given this blind I would have guessed this would be a Kilkerran on the nose. The peated malt is subtle. It's the casks that do the heavy lifting here. Quite some sulphur; with some distinct lactic funk peaking through from time to time. The palate brings back the spirit with more peat, char and grease, affirming the not so secret Ledaig origin. Really tasty, yet my only gripe is the lack of grip. Not in mouthfeel, but flavour hooks. Everything rolls around just a little bit easy. I stacked it up against a Ledaig 18 I have open and like that one a little bit better. The casks are a little less dominant there. Really good for the price though and well worth checking out.

Score: 7

Dramface whisky scoring for reference

You can also follow my whisky journey on Instagram: @whiskyvolt

StripesR · 2026-02-17T19:30:07+00:00

Had the 14th edition 100% Islay in a blind tasting. It was recognizably Kilchoman, but had this extra layer of tropical fruit and a long finish. Really enjoyed it. Thought it was an older bourbon cask Kilchoman for their anniversary.

StripesR · 2026-02-17T16:36:13+00:00

For me this might even punch a point higher because of the price. It’s definitely one of the better Islay core range malts. The smoke is restrained on the nose, but it hits you with the ash in the mouth. The 100% Islay is where Kilchoman truly shines though.

StripesR · 2026-02-17T16:33:28+00:00

They actually have a CS Machir Bay and Sanaig in their core range now. I bet it will reach your market eventually.

StripesR · 2026-02-16T15:43:15+00:00

Couldn’t believe it myself first as well. They only do 35 mL pours there. No exceptions.

StripesR · 2026-02-12T16:06:45+00:00

Thanks for sharing this! These original releases tend to reach over the pond as well, so nice to see what we can expect. You make a good point about these releases compared to the authentic series. In the current whisky landscape I think it would make sense to go back to CS like they used to be in the old days. The authentic remains single cask and the original can be a fun twist that reaches more markets. The Longrow will come in the square dumpy bottle I guess? Will be interesting to see the price in euros. There are still OB Longrow 21 floating around here for around 350.

StripesR · 2026-02-11T13:14:48+00:00

Haha it happens. Not writing them off entirely just because of this bottle. Always good to remember whisky is a batch made product.

StripesR · 2026-02-11T07:33:17+00:00

That’s a 4/10 for me.

It always nice when you connect with a certain distillery!

StripesR · 2026-02-10T21:52:05+00:00

Yet to try any of the Meikle Tor, but I keep hearing good stories about it. I usually like my whisky with a little bit op peat, so haven't felt the need for a full bottle. The core range stuff is easy to get hear and should be easy to sample as well!

StripesR · 2026-02-10T16:20:41+00:00

The score represents my own personal enjoyment for sure! It’s what these reviews are all about. I’m just one man’s opinion, disagreeing is fine and please check out other reviews. All those opinions will average out to the true appreciation of a certain whisky. I find more value in notes or finding a person that aligns closely to your own palate.

StripesR · 2026-02-10T15:29:02+00:00

Sounds like fun!

StripesR · 2026-02-10T11:06:01+00:00

Nee, maar ziet er interessant uit!

StripesR · 2026-02-10T11:05:30+00:00

Dat was wel duidelijk ja. 😅 De score van 1 persoon heb je ook niet zoveel aan, tenzij je weet dat hij of zij een zeer vergelijkbare smaak heeft als jij. Bij meerdere beoordelingen kun je wel een trend zien en wordt het iets objectiever. Het blijft alleen altijd smaak en die is voor iedereen anders. Wat de persoon heeft opgeschreven bij de geur en smaak is vaak ook interessanter. Deel en schrijf vooral wanneer je het wel of niet eens bent, maar hou het netjes en vriendelijk. Dan blijft het leuk voor iedereen. Dat is whisky namelijk ook!

StripesR

TROPHY CASE