Douglas Laing likes to play with their Big Peat series, one of the cornerstones of the Remarkable Regional Malts range. Limited editions are often nicely themed, with the typical character in a Christmas or Sinterklaas disguise. Many places around the world also have their localised edition: Mount Fuji, Tirol, Haemeldaeme… you name it.
For Whisky in Leiden 2026, which takes place next weekend in a church in Leiden, they came up with a tequila finished version.
Big Peat – The Leiden Edition (60,9%, Douglas Laing 2026, tequila cask finish, 256 btl.)
Nose: lots of mineral notes, seaweed, damp soil, along with roasted lemons and kippers. Nice mentholated / camphory notes. Also bonfire ash and a slightly sweeter hint of vanilla and unripe peach. Light herbal undertones as well. Really good. There’s a very light green / vegetal note but I’m not getting much of the expected agave.
Mouth: big and punchy. Quite raw, with a lot of white pepper and fiery medicinal peat coming out. Lemon juice and lemon peels, with a firm earthiness underneath, soot and roasted Mediterranean herbs in the middle. A slightly drying touch of resin and leafy notes. Just a marginal boozy roughness that I associate with tequila finishes.
Finish: long, still fairly dry. Plenty of herbs, campfire ashes and more leafy elements.
First things first: I’m generally not a fan of tequila but here it is very well-dosed. Overall this is simply a high quality Islay blend and at this price it will easily convince people at the festival. Already available from Whiskysite.nl of course.