The Black Grouse - Peated Blend

The Black Grouse is a peated version of The Famous Grouse. Being a blend they didn’t actually peat the barley specifically used for this whisky, like with a single malt, but instead have taken fully matured Islay whisky and blended it with some Famous Grouse. Originally created for the Swedish market, The Black Grouse was released in 2007.

There is some speculation about where the peated Islay whisky comes from with some folks thinking it’s Laphroaig, others thinking it’s Caol Ila and I even saw a post or two saying it was Ardbeg or Lagavulin. We can safely eliminate Ardbeg and Lagavulin from the mix due to how protective their owners are of these whiskies. For similar reasons it’s highly unlikely to be Laphroaig which leaves us with who I think it is. Diageo’s peated whisky work horse – Caol Ila. There’s no official documentation to support that claim, but with the state of the industry it seems to fit the best.