Yes, a peated Lowland single malt! And Ailsa Bay is the only example of such a thing. In the first half of the 20th century almost all distilleries were using some amount of peat to dry their malted barley, but that fell by the wayside with the more widespread adoption of coal as an energy source, the increasing reach of rail transport and a need for lighter malts that were easier to swallow for new markets, and were also better suited to blending, among other reasons. Modern Lowland malts like Bladnoch and Auchentoshan are rightly known for their light, approachable and easy-drinking styles, but the relatively new Ailsa Bay single malt stands apart from the other Lowland malts. The peat is sourced from the Highlands, though, so don't go expecting any Island-esque flavours in this malt. What we can expect though is a significantly sweet malt, which has actually been scientifically measured as 19 "Sppm" or "sweetness parts per million" in the finished whisky. This is a first, apparently pioneered by their Master Blender Brian Kinsman, and it seems to be proprietary because they're not saying how it is measured or what they're specifically measuring. They also quote another ppm measurement that we're more familiar with, which is the phenolic content, weighing in at 22 ppm. But don't go comparing that to your favourite peated single malts, because that phenolic content has been measured in the finished whisky, not the malted barley as is the case with almost every other peated whisky. Ancnoc did do this for a while with their previous range of peated expressions, but they gave up on it for their more recent releases - probably because buyers didn't understand the difference and it was costing them sales in the ppm arms race - and went back to quoting the ppm of the malted barley.
Ailsa Bay is also different in quite a few other ways. Owned by William Grant & Sons, the large family-owned company behind Glenfiddich and Balvenie as well as blends such as Grant's and Monkey Shoulder, the first interesting point is that there is no separate Ailsa Bay distillery. The production of this single malt happens at the company's Girvan grain spirit plant in South Ayrshire, about 1.5-hours' drive south-west of Glasgow. The Ailsa Bay distillery was built in 2007, and they're still using copper pot stills (a whopping sixteen of them in fact) as required by the SWA regulations for single malt Scotch whisky, but although not an entirely new idea the location of a distillery within a distillery is an interesting concept. It's a very modern and efficient distillery as you'd expect, with everything controlled by computer, and changes can be made to multiple aspects of production, including both wash and spirit, with the press of a button. The Ailsa Bay distillery has a relatively huge production capacity of 12,000,000 litres of spirit, which is over double the size of Balvenie Distillery, although not all of that production goes to Ailsa Bay single malt, with a number of different styles of malt whisky being produced here for both blends and single malts. For reference, Girvan itself is one of the largest distilleries in Scotland, capable of producing over 115,000,000 litres of spirit per year from six huge continuous column stills. Which for some perspective is the equivalent production of around 8 Glenfiddichs, or 115 Bruichladdichs, or over 280 Kilchomans - after the latter recently doubled capacity. Girvan Distillery also produces Hendricks Gin, as well as the recently launched 'Aerstone' single malts, and the same site also hosted the Ladyburn malt distillery in the past, operating from 1965 to 1975, so there's more happening here than the pumping out of grain spirit for licensed distilling and blending.
The other major point of difference with Ailsa Bay is how this whisky is matured. While many whiskies are either fully matured or finished in smaller casks, (e.g. Laphroaig's Quarter Cask), Ailsa Bay goes the other way in a process they've dubbed "micro-maturation". It is first matured in small casks ranging from 25-litres to 100-litres in capacity that have previously held Hudson Bay Bourbon - which is also owned by William Grant & Sons, where it is kept for between six and nine months, before being filled into full-sized casks that are a mix of virgin oak, first-fill ex-bourbon and refill ex-bourbon barrels. So they're getting an aggressive and rapid maturation at the start of the whisky's life, followed by a slower and more paced maturation in the full-sized casks, albeit with some virgin oak influence included. Which is an interesting concept. I can't say why they've chosen to do it this way around, and they don't say exactly what impact this has on the final whisky, particularly in comparison to more conventional finishing in smaller casks. If the idea was to give an initial boost of wood influence, and then mellow that out through a much longer maturation period in full-size casks, then why include virgin oak casks in that secondary stage?
This is the second release of Ailsa Bay single malt, which is named after the island of Ailsa Craig west of the Girvan Distillery in the Firth of Clyde. The first release was not officially imported into Australia, so this expression, named "Release 1.2 Sweet Smoke" is the first to make it here with the blessing of William Grant's. The first was released in early 2016, with this second release following in latet's bottled at the same strength as the first release, a rather odd 48.9%, and is similar in the phenolic ppm - 22 compared to 21 - but significantly higher in the 'sweetness ppm' with 19 ppm compared to 11 in the first release. Obviously that 1 ppm difference in phenolic content is going to be undetectable, but assuming that the 'sweetness ppm' works in a similar way that is a significant boost in sweetness. Unfortunately there's no frame of reference that we can use to compare this to other whiskies, so prior to tasting I'm not sure what to expect. I'm generally not a fan of overly sweet whiskies, so I'm a little hesitant with this one, but I'm keeping an open mind. Neither of the Ailsa Bay releases has had an age statement, and both have followed the same "micro-maturation" process described above. This second release sells for around $100 AUD in Australian retailers, which is quite a reasonable price for the bottling strength, and yes that modern-looking bottle is a full-size 700ml. Unfortunately I can't find any word, official or otherwise, on whether these whiskies are chill filtered or artificially coloured. Given the bottling strength of over 46% ABV it would be a little strange if this single malt had been chill filtered, but it's not unheard of, so we can't be sure. Likewise for colouring, since while this isn't a particularly dark (or fake tan-orange) whisky, if it doesn't say it anywhere, including the official website, then we have to assume the worst. Anyway, let's get to it!
Peated to 22 ppm (taken from the finished whisky), initially matured in small ex-bourbon casks for 6-9 months, then moved to full-size virgin oak, first-fill and refill ex-bourbon casks for an undisclosed period. Unknown chill filtration and colouring.
Colour: Medium gold. Probably not a huge amount of colouring added.
Nose: Interesting. Bacon, cut grass, black pepper, and sweet fruit syrup - just ripe banana, nectarine and possibly peach. Sweet orange as well. Cotton candy / candy floss, vanilla sugar, and a slightly odd metallic tang - copper coins? - that does fade a little with time.
Texture: Medium weight, but fades quickly. Definitely very sweet. A little heat, but only a touch.
Taste: Soft & sweet entry, then a big wave of spice - black peppercorns, chilli flakes, then burnt bacon, more vanilla sugar and sweet orange. A bit of fresh oak as well, and a little butter toffee.
Finish: Medium length. Softens quickly though. More burnt bacon and black pepper, more sweet orange and nectarine syrup. Some wood smoke, a little grassy malt and more vanilla sugar.
Score: 2.5 out of 5.
Notes: Interesting stuff. It's both young and woody, and sweet and spicy, all at the same time. Not quite my preferred style, but it's an enjoyable dram. I did expect more peat influence from the 22 ppm - measured in the finished whisky, not the malted barley, remember. I'd put this Ailsa Bay on par with Talisker as far as peaty-ness goes, and Talisker is "only" 25 ppm on the malted barley, so probably around 10 ppm in the finished whisky. But phenols are a funny thing, and this isn't really an exact science - it's very much subjective when it comes to tasting and smelling. This Ailsa Bay is certainly a sweet whisky, possibly a little too sweet, at least for my tastes. It does hide it's strength well, at not-far-below 50% ABV and obviously a relatively young age, there's only a little touch of heat behind the spices on the palate. I can see this working well for a newcomer to peated whisky, or a whisky novice, provided they have a sweet tooth!
If memory serves I preferred the first Ailsa Bay release to this one, but that's a hazy old memory so I could be wrong. Worth trying a dram at this reasonable price point.
Cheers!
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