Ailsa Bay Sweet Smoke Release 1.2

Ailsa Bay is a Lowland distillery owned and operated by William Grant & Sons and is used to produce whisky in the style of Balvenie. WG&S opened the old Girvan site primarily to make whisky for their blends and reduce their need of Balvenie and Glenfiddich malt. They also switch runs and produce a peated whisky several times a year. This is their newest, peated release: Sweet Smoke. This is also release number 1.2, whatever that means. The PPPM level is 22 and they also have assigned a weighted number to the SPPM (sweet parts per million): 19. So, now they have created a new way to quantify flavor? Yawn. This release is straw gold and makes tons of watery legs and large drops in the taster. I don’t believe it has been chilled filtered, nor do I think color has been added. It’s bottled at 48.9% and I paid around $60 for this online out of the UK. Ailsa Bay does not release any malts in the North American market. The nose had a really high, minty peat note: menthol and eucalyptus leaves lead the way along with tree bark and the faintest bit of honey. The sweetness isn’t very noticeable on the nose and there’s little to no cask influence either. The palate is also minty and bitter with youthful spirit driving the bite. There is some nice sweetness from honeycomb and vanilla, but I have a hard time believing there’s an actual way to quantify it with a specific number. Holding the liquid on your tongue causes it to function more like a mouthwash than a whisky and the watery feel really pushes that home in a bad way. The finish is short with almost no lingering notes. It does feel a bit more oily at this point, but the bitterness really had me scrambling for some water to wash away the acetone flavor. I think the biggest problem here is the whisky is just too damn young. I’m assuming it’s under 4-5 years of age and I think maybe Ailsa Bay should just focus more on producing blend-able juice and quit with the single malt bottlings. That’s just my $0.02, though. This was a tough bottle to finish and the inaugural Ailsa Bay I had a year or so ago wasn’t something I’d seek out either. This manages just 2 stars. I’d recommend looking elsewhere for non-Islay, peated whisky. This stuff is rough. Cheers.

Very sweet. Expected a lot more smoke. Reminds me a bit of Johnny Walker Gold with peat. Best when slightly chilled.

Nose: Peat Malt Toffee Caramel Taste: Rich Peppery finish Malty sweetness turns bitter Rich, creamy scotch. Got in Gatwick Duty Free and wish I could get a bottle in the US.

way too peaty for my current tastes. strong alcohol, so hard to taste too much else