Continuing on my ‘peated’ theme this week, I present unto you: ‘Glen Morpeatie’ (pun most defnitely intended). This blend has a base of Glenmorangie, and adds Islay malts Coal Ila and Laphroaig as the peated components (Coal Ila being relatively mildly peaty and spicy and Laphroaig adding mainly powerful peat-smoke). To tone the peat back just a little bit and improve the mouth-feel, the last component is trusty old Clynelish.

What I’m going for here is a whisky not unlike the Laphroaig QC itself: peated, but round. Success would be if the roundness could slightly overshadow the peat. Well, after marrying for 5 days, let’s taste it and find out!

The nose bodes well! Green apples and pears remind me strongly of Calvados (apple brandy), then a tiny whiff of smoke comes and underpinning it all is the scent of almond paste. Nice! Integrated is the first word that comes to mind when tasting: peat, spices, bay leaf, pepper and earthy flavours battle for attention. Unfortunately this is where it starts to unravel a bit. Going into the second part of the palate and on into the (fairly long) finish the taste becomes more bitter and loses almost all complexity, leaving you with bittersweet barley and smoke. It is only at this latest of stages that the Clynelish makes an appearance with it’s signature beeswax, having otherwise been completely overpowered by the Islay’s.

All in all, the nose is the star here. If you recreate this one, spend a lot of your time there as it becomes less and less spectacular further on. I’m tempted to give it 4 drams for that nose alone, but taking all aspects into account, this is merely interesting. So, 3 drams, but do try it!

With all my blends I suggest making a little amount first (something like 5cl) to see if you like it before committing yourself to a larger volume. What works for me doesn’t have to work for you. Always trust your own taste and not that of some dude on the internet or in a book. It’s not them who have to like your blends, it’s you!

• 
•