Uisge Beatha Whisky prices compared

Heavily peated whisky

“Heavily peated” is a convention, not a legal term: it usually means malt dried to around 40 ppm phenols or more, a figure measured in the barley rather than the glass. This page lists the heavily peated whiskies we track, with the best current UK price for each.

Most of the list comes from Bruichladdich’s Octomore and Port Charlotte ranges and from Ardbeg, but bottles from Westland and Ben Nevis show it is not only an Islay style. For most bottles the tag reflects the distillery’s usual style rather than a printed ppm, so treat it as a guide and check the label where a figure is given. The wider list is on peated whisky.

For what phenols do between still and cask, see Whiskipedia on phenols. Prices are the best current in-stock offer from the UK retailers we check (how we compare prices).

124 bottles in stock, with the best current price from the UK retailers we check.

Learn more on Whiskipedia

Questions

What is the cheapest heavily peated whisky?
The cheapest heavily peated whisky is Ardbeg Wee Beastie 5 Year Old (5 years old, 47.4% ABV, 70cl), at £32.95 from Master of Malt. That is £37.90 delivered to the UK mainland for one bottle. Next cheapest: Lagg Kilmory (£45.24) and Ardbeg An Oa (£45.70).
How much does heavily peated whisky cost?
Heavily peated whisky costs from £32.95 to £9,999.95, with a median of £211.00 for a full-size bottle. The dearest is Ardbeg Single Cask #2752 1974 31 year old Whisky.
What is the oldest heavily peated whisky you can buy?
Ardbeg Single Cask #2752 1974 31 year old Whisky, at 31 years old, from £9,999.95.
How much peat smoke is lost between the barley and the bottle?
Often half or more of the barley’s phenols are lost in production, many of them in the second distillation. Ardbeg malt at around 50 ppm gives a new make of 24 to 26 ppm, and Lagavulin’s malt, quoted at 35 to 40 ppm, ends up nearer 16 ppm in the spirit.
What is the most heavily peated whisky?
Bruichladdich’s Octomore 08.3, at 309.1 ppm, is the highest peating level recorded. As with all ppm figures, that was measured on the malted barley, not the whisky in the glass.
Is a higher ppm figure always smokier?
Not necessarily. Phenols come off late in distillation, so where the distiller makes the cut matters as much as the malt, which helps explain why Lagavulin, Laphroaig and Caol Ila taste different despite similar peating. When anCnoc measured its Flaughter in the bottle at 14.8 ppm, the figure undersold a heavily peated whisky, and the distillery went back to quoting the malt.
What ppm is heavily peated?
There is no legal definition, and sources draw the line in different places: some call malt peated to 40 ppm phenols or more heavily peated, others start at 50 ppm. Port Charlotte uses malt at about 40 ppm, Ardbeg at 50 to 55 ppm and Octomore at over 100 ppm. The figure is measured in the barley before distillation, not in the glass. See Whiskipedia on phenols.