Big peat 25 year old ‘The Gold Edition’

0

Douglas Laing & Co has announced last month they are adding  an old and rare limited edition trilogy collection to their Big Peat range, The debut of which is this 25 Years Old Islay “Vatted” Blended  Malt, entitled The Gold Edition, the first ever Big Peat to carry an age statement. Like it’s younger brethren It is comprised of Islay Single Malts, as this is the first part in the trilogy expecto two more aged Big Peats in the near future…
Big Peat 25 Years Old is bottled at cask strength (52.1% ABV) without coloring or chill filtration and only 3000 bottles exist globally, which is quite limited, you must agree… Age comes at a price, and this one will set you about 170 quid or so…

So… an aged Blend of Islay malts you say? Intersting….

Big Peat 25 Year Old – The Gold Edition , 52.1% , £175 (MOM) 

Nose: Quite elegant and restrained, and needs time to fully appreciate, this is not young “IN YOUR FACE” sort of peat..  we begin with salt, sea spray and smoked fish.  There’s an additional malty sweetness and a wee hint of smoky banana chips,leather and creme catalan that adds richness to the smokey/ coastal profile, a distant BBQ fire.
Palate: As you might expect the palate is a bit fiercer, with more smoke, fresh ground pepper, and more of the BBQ fish engulfed in hot smoke, the creaminess is less pronounced here, and is replaced by hints of mocha, and tea.
Finish:  Light ash, very long, with BBQ’ed meat and a bitter / earthy touch.

Conclusion:

This is a yummy and very elegant Islay blended malt, complex and lovely sipping stuff, it’s delicate at times, and shows the occasional peat bite, but do not expect a peat monster after 25 long years of cask maturation. I’ve noticed quite a few bloggers falling head over heels for this one, and I must say , I had slightly higher expectation of this one. It’s oh very good, but i guess i was indeed expecting too much. At any rate, it is not cheap at 175 GBP (I’ve seen better pricing in NL, somewhere I think). If you’re an Islay fan, and looking for some well aged Islay, this is a very good option.

 

Score: 88/100

 

Available at Master of Malt 

 

Leave a Reply