Torabhaig Taigh single-malt whisky taste-tested: First core release from Isle of Skye’s smokey star distillery

‘Smoke with taste’ is the Torabhaig distillery’s mantra, but it’s only now defining the approach with a core, ongoing whisky expression. After wowing us with its Legacy Series small batch runs, it’s finally revealed its long-term bottling, Torabhaig Taigh.

And it’s been well worth the wait. Having a dram (or two. Maybe three…) at an exclusive launch event for Torabhaig Taigh in London, Torabhaig’s landed on an inviting single malt liquid that will attract peat lovers without scaring off those looking for a more delicate sip.

Torabhaig Taigh: In short…

• First core, ongoing expression from Isle of Skye distillery
• Peated single malt
• Lightly smoked
• Oak cask aged (bourbon, refilled bourbon)
• Madeira cask finishing adds sweetness
• A blend of Torabhaig liquids aged between five and seven years
• Bottled at 46% ABV
• Available now, priced £47

“What we've done with Taigh is we've taken nine years of our distilling history, and we've taken elements of the core that we produce — a profile that I designed in order to give you the best from the copper still to the palate that I wanted it to match,” Neil MacLeod Mathieson, Torbhaig’s master whisky maker, told Shortlist.

“If we're going to produce our first flavor profile that will stay with us for a while, we need it to be the same when people buy consecutive bottles. So it's very important to have an element of control.”

Taigh translates from the Scottish Gaelic for ‘house’, or ‘home’. And it’s obvious that this is a release that’s very special to the distilling team at Torabhaig.

“Taigh is the heart of Torabhaig. It captures everything we’ve been working towards since we first started distilling – a whisky with elegance, balance and character, where smoke enhances the flavour rather than dominating it,” Mathieson describes.

“First-fill bourbon barrels have always been the signature of Torabhaig and allow our Smoke with Taste philosophy to shine. But, the addition of Madeira in this expression brings a softening roundness to the spirit that we think makes this whisky especially welcoming.”

Neatly peaty

Those that love a heavily peated whisky — the Laphroaig’s of the world — may be surprised by Taigh’s delicacy, Mathieson says. That’s because, at least in terms of pure chemistry, Torabhaig’s expression is more heavily peated, despite the nose suggesting otherwise.

“We use Scottish peat to dry some of our barley, and we peat it to an element of parts per million — for the geeks amongst us, around about 80 to 85 parts per million, which is quite high,” he reveals.

“And you might think on the first nosing that you're not sensing this is really peaty, and it's not as strongly peaty as you might have anticipated, or it doesn't smell like Laphroaig.

“We can all agree that Laphroaig is a heavily peated whiskey. But here we have more parts per million than the Laphroaig. So chemical analysis shows the way ours is layered is that the actual cresols and phenols of the families do not come out of the glass the same way that Laphroaig does, but we have more of them in our glass.”

Tasting notes

Torabhaig Taigh proves to be a very hospitable dram, smooth with a lingering sweetness that makes it very approachable to those otherwise afraid of a peaty palate.

On the nose, there’s a hint of that smokiness suggested by the high peat content, but far from overwhelming, with a more woodland vibe present.

At first sip on the palate, the sweetness is very forward, reminiscent of crème brûlée, cinnamon and raisins. The finish remains smooth, with vanilla sticking around to the very end, with the red fruits of the Madeira aging rounding off the delightful dram. An evening spent in Taigh’s company is one to be remembered.

“We hope that you'll enjoy Taigh for years to come, because it illustrates to us what our home, our house, can achieve,” said a beaming Mathieson at the end of our tasting session.

“And that's harmony, balance, and a little bit of finesse.”

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