Retribution – English Peat
“It’s Peat, Jim, but not as we know it”
Peat is one of the more divisive aspects in whisky. There are those who can’t stand the stuff, and others who swear by it. The Marmite of the whisky world as it were. But it is undeniable that there’s a mystical allure to the concept of peated whisky – the barren island of Islay, the pitch-dark chunks of loamy soil, dried out into husks of latent energy & burnt to dry (and in doing so, smoke) malted Barley, ready for mashing.
Some English distilleries use Scottish peated malt in their processes, from White Peak & Ludlow (as part of their “lightly peated” malts), to fully peated spirit from The English Whisky Distillery and East London. But where a large amount of un-peated malt in English distilling is locally sourced, the peat (and in many cases the malt itself that’s peated) comes from Scotland. But now, one distillery is changing that and producing something hyper-local in a first for English Whisky.
Richard Lock has been working on something incredibly exciting over the past 12 months. Since Spring 2023, Richard has been experimenting with something entirely unique for English Whisky – English peat.
Extracted (legally) from the Somerset Levels, Richard procured a pallet of peat and dried it naturally at his farm. He is now using it to smoke green malt, from Warminster maltings, in a home-made smoker (again of his own creation). It doesn’t come much more craft & hand-made than this!
Texturally different to Scottish peat, the peat from the Somerset levels is ‘lowland peat’ from boggy soil. It is coarser than other peat types (often combined with fine Irish peat when used in agriculture) and thereby will have a different aroma when burnt. Though we haven’t smelt the raw material yet, Richard did kindly send us a sample of the first peated spirit off the stills (50:50 peated & non). This spirit has all of the key characteristics of Retribution new make (cream soda, wild strawberries, citrus rind and biscuity-malt) with a hint of smoked cheese on peppery crackers. It’s a super-promising spirit that has the potential to be something very special indeed after a few years in wood.
There will only be two casks filled with spirit using 50% Somerset peated malt, before Richard reduces the peated content to 25% due to the limited amount he can malt with his current set-upon the farm). And super excitingly, we have procured cask number two, which is live now on Still In Cask for you to purchase shares in. That’s right, you could own a share in one of the very first casks of English peated whisky using English peat.
Filled at just over 65% ABV into a fresh ex Buffalo Trace barrel, this will be bottled at cask strength as a single cask, with only 200 bottle shares available through Still In Cask.
Richard is an extremely passionate & precise individual who truly elevates the art of distilling to create highly regarded spirits for us to enjoy. We’re so excited to be able to support Richard and Retribution, whilst also sharing something amazing with you, our members and community. And we’re excited that you too can enjoy a little piece of Richard’s hard work and innovation once the cask matures in a few years time.
Cheers!
