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Ardbeg Distillery on the south coast of Islay

Five Multi-Award-Winning Peated Whiskies From Islay, Speyside, Dublin and India

1 hour ago
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Peated whisky comes in many styles and strengths. Writer Mark Littler recently went through the competition results for Forbes and picked five peated bottles that have each won three or more major awards over the past two years. They come from Scotland, Ireland and India. Here is what the article reports, bottle by bottle.

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 10 Year Old

Port Charlotte is the heavily peated line from Bruichladdich on Islay. Distilling began in 2001 and the first release followed in 2006. Forbes puts the peating at around 40ppm. The 10 Year Old joined the core range in 2018. It is aged in first-fill and second-fill ex-bourbon casks plus French wine casks.

Awards listed for 2026:

  • San Francisco World Spirits Competition: Double Gold

  • International Whisky Competition: 1st place, Best Single Malt Scotch 10 Year Old (91.65 points)

  • SIP Awards: Gold

  • International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC): Spirit Gold (95 points)

MacNair's Lum Reek 12 Year Old

Lum Reek is a 12 year old blended malt from The GlenAllachie Distillers Co. It was originally created by Billy Walker and blends Speyside and Islay malts. It is matured in first-fill bourbon, Pedro Ximénez and red wine casks and bottled at 46% ABV. The MacNair's part of the name comes from Victorian Glasgow entrepreneur Harvey MacNair. Lum Reek comes from the old Scottish toast "lang may yer lum reek", meaning "long may your chimney smoke".

Awards listed for 2026:

  • World Whiskies Awards: Gold and category winner

  • San Francisco World Spirits Competition: Double Gold

  • International Spirits Challenge: Gold

  • IWSC: Spirit Silver (92 points)

Ardbeg Wee Beastie 5 Year Old

Peated whiskies with high age statements are uncommon, and Wee Beastie goes the other way with a young one. Ardbeg launched it in 2020 as part of the core range. It matures in ex-bourbon barrels and Oloroso sherry casks and is bottled at 47.4% ABV.

Awards listed:

  • New York World Spirits Competition 2025: Double Gold and Best Overall Scotch

  • World Whiskies Awards 2026: Gold

  • San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2026: Gold

  • International Whisky Competition 2026: 1st place, Best Single Malt Scotch Under 10 Years Old (89.40 points)

Teeling Blackpitts Peated Single Malt

Teeling is a Dublin distillery and launched Blackpitts in 2020. The name comes from the Blackpitts district next to the distillery, once home to some of Ireland's largest malting houses. Most Irish whiskey is unpeated, so a peated Irish single malt stands out. Teeling triple distils the peated malt, matures it in ex-bourbon and ex-Sauternes wine casks and bottles it at 46% ABV without chill filtration.

Awards listed:

  • World Whiskies Awards 2021: World's Best Irish Single Malt (No Age Statement)

  • New York World Spirits Competition 2025: Double Gold and Best Single Malt Irish Whiskey

  • San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2026: Gold

Indri Agneya Single Malt

Agneya means "belonging to fire" in Sanskrit. It is the lightly peated sibling of Indri's flagship single malt, made by Piccadily Distilleries in the village of Indri in Haryana, northern India, from indigenous six-row barley. Peat suitable for whisky is hard to find in India, so the barley is kilned over peat imported from Scotland, to around 15 to 25ppm. The spirit is distilled in copper pot stills and matured in ex-bourbon, Oloroso sherry and Pedro Ximénez casks. It carries no age statement.

Awards listed:

  • New York World Spirits Competition 2025: Double Gold

  • London Spirits Competition 2026: Gold and Indian Single Malt Whisky of the Year

  • American Distilling Institute 2026: Double Gold

  • IWSC 2026: Spirit Silver (92 points)

Why repeat wins matter

Competitions use different judges, categories and scoring methods. The Forbes piece points out that repeated wins across competitions with different judges and scoring systems say more than a single medal. That is the thread running through all five of these bottles.

Which of these have you got on your shelf? Tell the Clan in the comments.

Sources

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