4.396 Heather Ember (Peat Plants Collection)

Description

The Peat Plants Collection is the first quartet in The Creators Collection. This quartet of peated bottlings has been created to take you on a sensory journey through the peatlands. Each of the four bottlings represents a different aspect of the natural world that contributes to the unique character of these spirits.

Named after the resilient and aromatic heather plant that carpets the Orkney landscape, Heather ember captures the subtle, floral smokiness characteristic of Distillery 4’s peated whisky. The heather, often used in the peat cutting process, lends a gentle, earthy sweetness that is mirrored in the whisky’s profile.

We all agreed this one was immediately stunning, as wispy Orcadian peat smoke mingled with impeccable, old-style sherry. It was observed more than once that this whisky was highly reminiscent of MUCH older official bottlings from this distillery. The nose evolved with beautiful and generous aromas of waxes, dried mushrooms, hessian, lapsing souchong tea and flinty coastal notes. Water brought peppery pastrami meatiness, black pepper, game salami, haggis nachos and dark fruits pickled in ancient balsamic. The palate was once again heavily old school in profile. Loads of gamey, leathery and salty sherry vibes met natural tar extracts, medicines and gorgeous, dry, heathery Orkney peat low down in the mix. With water we found such wonders as chip-shop brown sauce, layers of pipe tobacco and heather honey. This profile lingered long into the stunning aftertaste; rich with verbena, aged herbal liqueurs and old-school shilling ales. At 19 years of age, we combined selected casks from the same distillery. We then returned the single malt into a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks.