Secrets of Smoke takes you beyond the smoke screen. With this whisky we uncover the sometimes surprising inherent sweetness of peated malts.
Take some time to get through the smoke. The longer you sit with it you’ll become accustomed to it as the veil of smoke drops, the sweet side shines through.
For Secrets of Smoke, we allow those wine casks to crack the smoky outer shell and release the unexpected sweetness at the core of peated whiskies. Palo Cortado sherry-seasoned butts enhancing the toffee apple qualities of malt whisky from the Caol Ila Distillery. Refill red wine barrels tempt bright cherry notes from the depths of The Peat Monster, our own assemblage of Islay malts. And those Marsala barriques bring blueberry flapjack flavours to the surface of malt whisky from the Laphroaig Distillery.
Like morse code the flavours pulse and come in waves with moments of intensity and then a reprise.
Once past the coastal smokiness, the nose is honeyed and rich with toasted marshmallow and buttery pears. The palate is oily and spicy with pear, peach and melon. It grows citrussy, before a long, chocolatey and peaty finish.
What if we told you that peated Scotch whiskies aren’t all they seem?
We’ve always had a fascination with the things you can uncover through blending.Sometimes we blend to build and combine flavours, other times we use blending as a tool to unlock the secrets hiding within different parcels of whisky.
In the world of peated Scotch malt whisky, intensity of smokiness tends to dominate the discussion.
What is often overlooked is the inherent sweetness of peated malts, hidden behind the bonfires.
We have long believed there is more to the story than smoke alone. A hint of honey, a flash of fruit – there have been signs of sweeter delights hiding in plain sight beneath the sootiness. Our experiments with sherry and wine casks have unearthed extra dimensions to Islay malts. We can now reveal the curiously sweet Secrets of Smoke.
Recipe and Facts
Flavour profile
Wine casks release the unexpected sweetness at the core of peated whiskies, enhancing toffee apple qualities of malt whisky from the Caol Ila Distillery. You’ll find bright cherry notes tempted out by refill red wine casks containing The Peat Monster, alongside blueberry flapjack flavours in whisky from the Laphroaig Distillery finished in Marsala barriques.
Recommendations
Add a small spritz of soda water to unlock
further fruity and sweet flavours.
Technical details
Bottled at 52% ABV.
Natural colour.
Light 5 micron filter, not chill-filtered.
Blended Malt Scotch Whisky.
A limited edition of 9,792 bottles.
September 2024.
Lead whiskymaker
James Saxon
James Saxon
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