Isle of Harris‘s Blair Sterrick thinks so. The Outer Hebridean distillery does use peat in production – but not much. Barley is peated to around 12-14 ppm (parts per million). This dials back the intensity, leading to more of an earthy influence, rather than something outright and distinctly peated.

Sterrick believes that this creates more of an entry point for newer drinkers, who he argues should be able to identify the flavors they like more easily when the overpowering intensity of peat is dialed down. This allows grains, fruits and spices to emerge as equal players. It’s an outlook that’s clearly working for Isle of Harris: its single malt expression, The Hearach, scored a total of 94 points in the Report owing to its overall more approachable style.

Fellow island distillery Isle of Raasay takes a similar tack – but for a slightly different reason, co-founder Alasdair Day says. He claims he was looking to create something distinctly ‘Hebridean’ in style. ‘We started with a blank sheet of paper and the first step was to design the style of spirit we wanted to make on Raasay.’ He began by looking at Talisker, Jura and Tobermory, all pretty close geographically to where he was building the distillery. ‘They all had lighter peated whiskeys compared to Islay. Obviously, Isaly is a Hebridean island too, but as a region in its own right we wanted to steer away from the heavier peated style made there.’

There was another consideration for Isle of Raasay: the need to release single malt at a relatively young age. This is a requirement for most newer producers due to the boring constraints of cash flow. Here, a lightly peated character builds in necessary complexity. Day achieves this by distilling unpeated barley for six months, followed by six months of barley peated to 52ppm, taking a very narrow cut from the spirit still. Both are matured separately in three different cask types (ex-rye, new Chinkapin oak, and ex-Bordeaux wine barriques). ‘The phenols from the peated barley interact differently with each of the cask types creating different flavours – in some cases, especially the Chinkapin oak, reducing the impact of the phenols.’ These layers of complexity wouldn’t be accessed without the peat. In the Report, the Chinkapin edition of the Na Sia Single Cask Series scored a whopping 97 points thanks to the interplay between its deep liquorice notes and floral elements. Day reckons this intentional pull back from smoke, along with a general desire to differentiate, is resulting in an increase in different styles of Scotch that can still be given the general ‘peated’ flavour descriptor.

While Bruichladdich Distillery only submitted unpeated whiskies for The Scotch Whisky Report (Bruichladdich Re/Define Thirty scored 96 points), the Islay maker is a fascinating one to look at from this smoky perspective. As well as releasing unpeated whiskies under its eponymous brand, it also produces the light-to-moderately peated Port Charlotte and heavily peated Octomore single malts. I had the opportunity to quiz head distiller Adam Hannett while on the island. ‘Certainly, if you look at the growth of whisky, peated whisky is at the head of it,’ he notes. And indeed – heavily peated spirit isn’t going anywhere, so if that’s your preferred flavour profile, don’t panic.

Read more: The Scotch Whisky Report 2024

However, he did make the powerful point that the availability of peated malt is declining as new distilleries start producing and others look to expand. Peat supplies are dwindling, he says. Even if whisky only accounts for less than 1% of what’s extracted each year, according to the Scotch Whisky Association, the environmental damage of sourcing peat shouldn’t be overlooked. And while the industry is actively exploring how to cut peat in less damaging ways, the fact that producers are doing more with less can only be praised.

Then there are those that are exiting the peat game altogether. Shortly after I spoke to Hannett, news broke that Highland distillery The Glenturret (its 35-year-old Prowess scooped a score of 97) was stepping away from peated whiskies completely. Smoky expressions will leave the core range from 2026. In a statement, the distillery said its decision ‘underscores the distillery’s vision for a future defined by exceptional craftsmanship and a deep respect for the environment’. It’s an interesting perspective – and with sustainability at the forefront more than ever, perhaps the lighter peated profile is a sign of things to come.

Whatever the rationale, it was exciting to see a spectrum of smoke rising to the top in the Scotch Whisky Report 2024, rather than domination from the pure peat bombs. In his assessment of the trend, Raasay’s Day sums it up nicely: ‘Here’s to diversity and variety. Vive la difference!’