Peat and Smoke Scotch Whisky Tasting

Just did our first-ever "peat and smoke" Scotch whisky tasting through the MIT Club of Boston - I had a great time! Here's a list of the whiskies we sampled:

• Amrut Fusion - distilled in Bangalore, India from 25% peated Scottish malt and 75% unpeated Indian malt, this whisky was rated #3 in the world in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2010
• Balvenie 17 Peated Cask - a new and limited release from this versatile Speyside distillery
• Longrow CV - the heavily-peated offering from the Springbank distillery in Campbeltown
• Compass Box Peat Monster - the peaty offering from this pioneering whisky blending firm
• Ardbeg Uigeadail - a peaty whisky aged in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, giving it great fruity undertones
  
• Caol Ila 1978 25 Year - a very complex whisky also aged in a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks; this scotch is now very hard to find
• Bruichladdich Octomore 2.1 - currently, the peatiest whisky in the world, with 140 ppm phenols (most peated whiskies are about 40 ppm)...though I understand they're making an Octomore 3 at 152 ppm
  

I think the motto for the night was "Smoking's bad for your health...so why not just drink it instead?" Well, in reality, we worked up from mildly peaty to extremely peaty, because after drinking the Octomore, most anything else tastes like water. Really lame water.