How Much Peat Smoked Grain?

[LittleRiver]

I have been exploring Scotch. My favorite so far is Laphroaig 10 Year, but there are a few others a little less smokey that I enjoy as well. However I’ve also tried Lagavulin 16 Year and found it reminiscent of bog water.

It's interesting that you like Laphroaig but not Lagavulin, with Laphroaig being widely considered as the most peaty. I love it, but others call it cough syrup.

If you get a chance try Talisker. It's not as peaty as Laphroaig by any means, but it does have a nicely balanced peat character.

If you want a Scotch that is not peaty but absolutely smooth and delicious, try The Glenlivet.

I’ve also wondered about using a little of my Scotch to soak wood in. ...

If you do that to good Scotch, please keep it to yourself. ;-)

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I was trying to keep off the whisky recs, but since we're going there...

It's interesting that you like Laphroaig but not Lagavulin, with Laphroaig being widely considered as the most peaty. I love it, but others call it cough syrup.

They're completely different in style though, Laphroaig is possibly the lightest in style of all the Islays, whereas Lagavulin is a much more full-on experience, it's probably the most extreme of the widely-available Islays and is the one most commonly referred to as cough syrup here in the UK. Personally I like my dram to be a bit more substantial and find the ordinary Laphroaig a bit lightweight and characterless, one-dimensional even - but a lot of that is in the processing, I've had an unfiltered bottling that was incredible.

It sounds like the OP wants to do a tour round some of the other islands - my usual "cooking" drams are Talisker and Highland Park, and they would be a pretty good place to start, then explore some of the other Islays. This chart may be of assistance :

 

[LittleRiver]

...It sounds like the OP wants to do a tour round some of the other islands...

A few years back a good friend got a book on whisky, and soon thereafter we took an extended virtual tour of Scotland by way of the liquor store, sampling the spirits from the different regions.

 

[rodwha]

It's interesting that you like Laphroaig but not Lagavulin, with Laphroaig being widely considered as the most peaty. I love it, but others call it cough syrup.

If you get a chance try Talisker. It's not as peaty as Laphroaig by any means, but it does have a nicely balanced peat character.

If you want a Scotch that is not peaty but absolutely smooth and delicious, try The Glenlivet.



If you do that to good Scotch, please keep it to yourself. ;-)

For whatever reason the “like” button doesn’t work for me usually. Thanks for the suggestions!

And I feel the same way about using my Scotch like that, but do wonder if it comes through enough to consider. I read of people soaking oak cubes but don’t have a clue as to how much is needed.

 

[rodwha]

I was trying to keep off the whisky recs, but since we're going there...



They're completely different in style though, Laphroaig is possibly the lightest in style of all the Islays, whereas Lagavulin is a much more full-on experience, it's probably the most extreme of the widely-available Islays and is the one most commonly referred to as cough syrup here in the UK. Personally I like my dram to be a bit more substantial and find the ordinary Laphroaig a bit lightweight and characterless, one-dimensional even - but a lot of that is in the processing, I've had an unfiltered bottling that was incredible.

It sounds like the OP wants to do a tour round some of the other islands - my usual "cooking" drams are Talisker and Highland Park, and they would be a pretty good place to start, then explore some of the other Islays. This chart may be of assistance :

Thanks for your recommendations as well.

 

[nh_homebrew]

My smoked peat ale turned out fine. I used .75 oz and detected no flavor from the mash tun... used 5 lbs of 2 row for a 5 gallon batch. After it finished fermenting I could taste the peat. But if I didn’t know it was smoked I probably wouldn’t guess it. Though I am not experienced with all flavors of beer either. It was not too strong a flavor. The beer disappeared fast!

 

[rodwha]

Would you use more in a future batch or was it subtle and to your liking?

 

[nh_homebrew]

Would you use more in a future batch or was it subtle and to your liking?

I might try a little more next time. But it was to my liking.

 

[thespiff]

I'm considering adding some peated malt to an Irish Red recipe that already has a pretty complicated malt bill (at least by my standards). This is an interesting conversation, as I'm not really sure how much to use. I was thinking 8oz in a 5 gallon batch, which is 3.5% of the grist, but I worry that may be too much.

Schlenkerla, your comments are interesting, but I think it's hard to make use of your experience without understanding how the malt you are smoking yourself compares to the off the shelf products the rest of us most likely use. I suspect if I used I used weyermann smoked malt at the ratios of your home-smoked malts, the beer would be undrinkable. I have a smoker out back, I'd be interested in what your malt smoking process is!