As shards of sunlight pepper the broody, inky-blue waters around Islay, the bows of the boat rise and dip in the swell, and the white walls of a distillery appear and disappear with each surge as sea spray cleans and alerts all the senses. It is an exciting and invigorating way to arrive on the Hebridean island of Islay and at the distilleries that hug its rugged shoreline. Islay is a remote speck of rock off Scotland’s west coast from where you can see across to Ireland on a clear day. The difficult to get to location underlies a history of illicit distilling in times gone by and the stealthy avoidance of tax collectors. Islay has a long history of whisky making, having currently eight distilleries, but many more have sadly closed during the last couple of centuries including the now revered Port Ellen distillery. Happily Kilchoman, which was founded in 2005 and is the first distillery to be built on Islay for over 120 years, is going from strength to strength.

This small island is home to only 3,000 inhabitants but creates some of the whisky world’s peaty heavyweights. The majority of Islay’s whisky packs a big smoky punch which comes from the way the malted barley is dried over peat fires. It is for this style that Islay has become rightly famous.

Peat is made up of decaying vegetation and grasses that have formed over the centuries in boggy and wet marshland areas. It has been used as a burning fuel in communities across the world for centuries. In Scotland, in particular, peat has played a central role in the drying of barley for Scotch whisky making. When the Industrial Revolution brought trains and they in turn carried coal across the country, many distilleries abandoned peat as a fuel, but it remained in use in islands such as Islay and it is on the islands that it is most widely used today.

Peat is cut from the ground in spring and dried naturally during the summer, before being collected in the autumn. Peat differs from place to place as it is formed from the local vegetation. Most peaty whiskies derive their taste from the process of drying malted barley, and not, as is sometimes thought, from water travelling through peat bogs before feeding the distillery.

Port Ellen Maltings first started producing malted barley in the 1970s. The maltings now produce malt for the majority of Islay’s distilleries according to their exact requirements and peat levels.

So, mention Islay in whisky circles and it is undoubtedly the heavily-peated malts which immediately spring to mind. But this immediate association with peat is slightly unfair. Two of its distilleries – Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich – produce whiskies which, more often than not, do not fit this phenolic template at all.

Reopened at the start of the millennium, Bruichladdich has proved itself a very twenty-first-century distillery ever since. Its smart packaging and distinctive sky-blue livery have made it instantly recognisable, they make a large range of different and diverse bottlings, a good proportion of which are outstanding. Bruichladdich has never minded being Islay’s maverick distillery, and undoubtedly bizarre things have happened to it. Like the time the distillery was allegedly spied on by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency who were worried that the distillery was actually making weapons of mass destruction, rather than whisky. The whisky we have for you to try is called Anns An T-Seann Doigh. The name means in the traditional way, and thisorganic whisky meets the exacting Soil Association standards.

Tasting notes:
Nose: Not particularly assertive, with some lemon, barley, wet hay, and damp woody notes. Like opening the cricket hut or boat shed at the end of winter. Not particularly unpleasant, but you're not sure what's lurking in there.
Palate: The result of the virgin oak is a massive white pepper hit. And because the oak will quickly overwhelm the malt it cannot stay there too long. So the malt here is very young, still green, rootsy and resinous. The resulting whisky is intriguing rather than wonderful. It's not totally balanced, and the spice and barley bicker constantly. But it's an unusual and challenging experience and not to be missed.
Finish: Spicy.

The Whisky Boys reviewed this and loved it, the casks also are positive. You can buy it for £39 from The Whisky Exchange.

For further discussion see our Bruichlkladdich Organic forum .

Glenkeir is The Whisky Shop's own whisky range - and this is a vatted malt comprising whisky from Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain distilleries. Caol Ila is one of the fastest-growing of all Scottish malts. Despite the fact that it turns up in scores of independent bottlings, it has been something of an industry secret because of the high proportion that goes into blends, particularly Johnnie Walker. Bunnahabhain on Islay feels like Scotland’s last malt outpost. To reach it you drive to pretty much the end of the island and down the shore where you are greeted with stunning views of the sound of Jura and the Paps (hills). Bunnahabhain promoted itself as the "gentle taste of Islay" because its core brands have only a light peatiness, however within the distillery’s warehouses there are also some stunning peated casks.

Tasting notes:
Nose: Oily and gloopy, a smoky steam engine, sweet pear and fluffy apple round the edges, and there's hints of rich butter pastry filled with tinned cherry and clotted cream.
Palate: Snaps initially, so that an early apple note disappears under a wall of peat and pepper, which gives the green fruit at the centre a bit of a kicking. Fades away late on though, and there's a bit of a bump late on.
Finish: Thankfully the peat pulls it all round in style

For further discussion see our Glenkeir Islay Forum. £29 from The Whisky Shop.

Bowmore Tempest 10 year old (batch 1). 55.3%abv

There is no finer place to drink whisky than when sitting on the sea wall at the waterside Bowmore distillery. The sea wall is part of the town’s sea defences, but also forms the outer wall of warehouse one, the legendary warehouse that has stored some of the distillery’s finest malts. Part of the warehouse is below sea level, but while the angry seas vent their frustration against the wall in winter, the casks rest in blissful tranquility on the other side. You can smell the salt in the air and see it encrusted on the walls. Bowmore lies halfway up the island on a sea loch and faces Bruichladdich, which is about three miles away on the other side of the loch.

Tasting notes:
Nose: Spritely and spindly, with raspberry whirl in vanilla ice cream, some tinned pear riding over a dry smoke, cardamon and paprika base. But it's all fresh, spring-like and inviting.
Palate: This is stunning and a whole new direction for Bowmore. It has two distinctive parts, both kicking out independently but wonderfully bound together and tumbling over each other in a whisky danse macabre. There's sweet, apple liqueur and fresh zesty malt on the one hand, intense peat smoke and battering ram chili on the other. It'll delight fans of class A Islay peat malts, but it has a soft and sweet smile to charm the pants off even the most cynical malt fan.
Finish: More of the same, sugar and spice, and lots and lots of all things nice. The best Bowmore since I first tasted the 17 year old? I really think so...

Further discussion on our Bowmore Tempest Forum

Kilchoman Spring 2011 46% abv

Kilchoman distillery, located on Rockside farm a few miles to the west of Bruichladdich, began production in June 2005. They are very small, producing around 100,000 litres per year (in contrast to Caol Ila, which produces around 6 million litres) and everything about them is authentic and traditional. They grow their own barley, perform their own floor malting and generally do everything on site. This is the fifth release and has been aged in a combination of refill and fresh bourbon barrels from Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky, USA.

Tasting notes:
Nose: A very different act to the Bowmore, with red currant and blueberry mixing it with a Schnapps like spirit intensity and vaguely burnt oily dust, like you used to get off the Hornby train control box.
Palate: Rich, deep and smouldering. I think I must have missed a bottling because it's about a year since I had this and it's progressed beyond all recognition. There are still immature sappy barley notes floating about but they are more than compensated by the needle sharp spice intensity, the assertive peat and the rich windy, fruity notes.
Finish: Full, intense and excellently balanced between fruit, pepper and peat.

For further discussion see our Kilcoman Forum. Available for around £45 online

Ardbeg Corryvreckan. 57.1% abv

Ardbeg lies on the most southerly part of Islay and on the rugged shore of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a small operation, making just over one million litres a year on one pair of stills, a tenth of the amount that Glenfiddich is capable of. The stills are stubborn old beasts, unpredictable and untamable, regularly throwing tantrums and sulkily refusing to play along with the stillmen. However they produce a complex, distinct, sweet and peaty spirit. It is matured on-site in warehouses just a few yards from the shoreline. Ardbeg distillery was rescued in 1997 by the Glenmorangie Company who took it on when it was in a sorry state, its farmhouse-like still houses and production areas badly neglected, in need of some serious repair work. Since then, the distillery has been restored to its former glory. The Corryvreckan is named after a large and vicious whirlpool off the coast of Islay and close to the island of Jura which has claimed scores of lives over the years and wrecked dozens of boats. The writer George Orwell nearly lost his life to the phenomenally powerful vortex while he was staying on Jura while writing the novel 1984.

Tasting notes:
Nose: Not a million miles away from the Kilchoman, successfully pulling off that very difficult feat of marrying fruity sweet wine notes with sharp, gristy and industrial Islay smoke.
Palate: This caps off a wonderful, wonderful selection of Islay malts. It bristles with intense Barolo or Rioja like red wine notes and intense acrid coal smoke.
Finish: Full and forever. It's been a while...but boy have I missed this!

£61 from The Whisky Exchange

For further discussion see our corryvreckan Forum.