At the end of 2021 you couldn’t go online without getting your eyeballs bombarded with ‘the best of 2021’ lists. All the so called experts where given the mic and let loose their unfiltered opinion on the general public. Which, in the case of booze, is not a good thing at all.
Why isn’t that a good thing you ask? Because these so called experts have been proven to not to be able to taste de difference between a smokey whisky and a sweet one. Also, they chime about non-chill filtered and uncolored whisky’s as being the best, but when tested they like the ones which are both colored and chill-filtered the best.
You can see why I don’t like the opinions of these so called ‘experts’ when it comes to my favorite drink. Which is why I took it upon myself to help the lovers of smokey whisky’s get some real good stuff, without breaking the bank or having to search high and low for a specific limited edition version.
So let’s get started:
1- Lagavulin Special Release 2021 12 Years Lions Fire
This was my absolute favorite whisky of the year. And I must admit I fully bought into the marketing for this bottle (a flaming lion, wow!) and paid a bit too much (€125) for my liking. But no buyers remorse yet, because this is a smokey beast with a lot of depth.
I’m not going to pretent to know how to describe tastes of this one, because I usually hate experts describing it too. Especially when they say it tastes like tar or something. Do experts eat tar?
So what does this taste like? Smoke, a lot of smoke, but not overwhelming. Followed by a nice, rich sweetness and a long, long aftertaste in the back of the throat. So you get to enjoy a dram a bit longer than usual, which is nice at this price point.
2- Finlaggan Cask Strength
This motherf*cker took my by surprise. At about €30 this arguably the best value for money bottle I’ve ever bought. It’s been said that Finlaggan secretly is being made by Lagavulin and it sure tastes like it. The two whisky’s are strikingly similar with Finlaggan having a bit more smoke and a bit less depth.
The Cask Strength might be a bit much for you at almost 60% alcohol VOL. Therefore I also recommend the Sherry finished version, which is 46% and costs even less.
3- Ardbeg Wee Beastie
This is not a little beast at all. Bad marketing! Bad, bad marketing from Ardbeg. But I bought it anyway. I liked the name, and I’m a sucker for those kind of things. And when I took the cork out and took a snif I was blown away. This is a very, very big beastie.
This is a relative young whisky at 5 years old, but that’s a good thing. Younger whisky’s, especially smokier ones, are even smokier when still young. And when you mix that with a name like Ardbeg, you get what you pay for. At about €40 it’s probably the smokiest whisky you can get, which still has a relative balance in taste.
Wee Beastie is smokey up front, but has a nice layer of salty sweetness following that up. It sticks around a very, very long time after you take a sip, but doesn’t offer much in terms of after taste.
4- Port Charlotte 10 Years Heavily Peated
Port Charlotte is part of the Bruichladdig distillery, which usually makes more sweeter whisky’s. And that’s probably why I had a hard time with this one at first. After I bought it for around €60, I was thoroughly disappointed. The whisky just didn’t fit my palate with being light on smoke and higher on the fruitiness.
Why is it on the list then? Explain yourself! Hold on, hold on. I need to confess that this one slowly grew on me. I learned to appreciate the balance with a little less smoke than I like but with a bit more richness than I’m accustomed to.
So yeah, maybe Port Charlotte shouldn’t have called this on ‘Heavily Peated’. But then again, I probably wouldn’t have bought a ‘Medium Peated’. Am I just now learning to drink whisky, then? No, no, definitely not. I know what I like, but that’s not set in stone. I like smokey whisky’s, but there can be outliers.
So that’s my list of best whisky’s of 2021. Bases on my own preferences and not some experts opinion.
Take this list as a suggestion, not as a definite ‘best of’ list, because it’s not, and it’s not intended to be. As I said, I’m not an expert, I just want you to drink some tasty smokey whisky’s and I think this list can help with that.
Do you have some good suggestions for smokey whiskey’s? Please let me know. I’m always looking for new tastes (as long the bottles still fit in the whiskey cabinet).
Oh, and fuck dry januari, just enjoy life.
-Dennis
P.S. You’ll find the Dutch version of this list here