Concluding our flyby of the Watt Whisky May 2022 releases is another youngster. This time a heavily peated Loch Lomond spirit (the distillery itself have stopped calling such things Inchfad). 300 bottles have been disgorged from an ex-bourbon hogshead and bottled at 58.2% ABV. Bottles are available via The Whisky Exchange for £59.95.
Nose: Meaty and industrial. Pan fats, greases and exhaust fumes (ack, the wife is moving seats again) join tart apples and lemons whilst cooling mind and pine needles as a degree of crispness to what is otherwise a rather dirty whisky. Water offers ferns and bracken alongside smoked lemon curd.
Taste: Sharp with lime and grapefruit – then immediately into the peat with surface cleaner, Swarfega and tarry felt roofing. Sunday roast gravy sits with intense mechanised aspects – lubricant and paint thinner whilst Frazzles are mingled with purple Monster Munch for that perfect combination of bacon and pickled onion that nobody thought they needed. Dilution here expresses fruit sugars – a bit nascent and under expressed – alongside golden barley and engine oil.
Finish: Quite long. Salinity and tarriness fade alongside green apple sweetness and sea shell coastalness.
Making up for its youth with plenty of energy and plenty of murky smoke – this ain’t the whisky you’re looking for if you’re unsure about whether you like peated whiskies. Those that do will find plenty of vim and vigour – but also an interesting peated style that can’t quite make up its mind whether it’s inland or coastal – and so it decides to be both.
Review sample provided by Watt Whisky.