Caol Ila 17 Year Unpeated
One of the great things about the whisky surge over the past couple of decades has been the freedom of experimentation. With more volume moving off the shelf, distilleries need a way to stand out. Scotch, having stricter regulations than whisky in many other parts of the world, has to arguably work a little harder to be unique without alienating consumers. The Caol Ila 17 is an example of this deviation, by the simple act of not peat-drying the barley and bottling the whisky at cask strength.
Glenrothes Vintage 1998
The Glenrothes has a way of categorizing their scotch that is markedly different than most other distilleries. Rather than bearing a standard age statement or name in lieu of one, the Glenrothes labels their offerings by the year in which the barrels were first laid down. The bottle details tell you when the scotch was bottled, letting you do your own math to figure out the age. The Vintage 1998 is from their Core Vintage line, though there are Reserve, Special Release, and Classic lines too.
Ballechin 10 Year
Ballechin is a heavily peated scotch from Edradour, differentiated by brand much in the same way Springbank and Bruichladdich do with their peated offerings. It first appeared in 2003 and has seen a few limited releases before this 10 year old appeared on the market. The Ballechin 10 year takes its name from a nearby Perthshire farm distillery that closed in 1927. According to the 19th century travel writer Alfred Barnard, that distillery made a peated malt. This whisky is peated to at least 50ppm.