Valamo Lightly Peated Monastery Whisky

This lightly peated single malt whisky comes from Valamo Monastery Distillery from Finland. Valamo has a range of peated and unpeated whiskies, usually matured in bourbon or sweet church wine csks.

This one’s been matured in bourbon casks and has a 12 ppm peat level. 20 or below is usually considered light. For comparison, Ardbeg, which is probably the most famous maker of peated smoky whiskies, usually has 50 ppm.

Valamo Lightly Peated Monastery Whisky Review

Better than I expected

I liked their very first commercial batch, which was unpeated 5 year old Valamo. I didn’t like their first commercial peated 3 year old Valamo. So probably my hopes weren’t high with this expression, since it’s lightly peated.

But Valamo proved me wrong. They’ve managed to create an easy to approach single malt. Even though the young age really shows (probably 3 years old), there’s a pleasant character lurking in the back.

Matured in:

Ex-Bourbon casks

ABV: 40%

Colour: Golden amber

Nose: Oak and malt with hints of delicate smoke on the back. Sweet vanilla and toffee notes with floral touch emerge.

Taste: Honey and oak with an earthy touch. Hay and grass, even a little bit of berry jam.

Finish: Butterscotch and earthy notes, bit grassy for example. Little bit of lingering smoke in the aftertaste, but just a momentary linger.

Balance: There’s potential for sure, I’d love to try this with higher alcohol by volume level. Seems that 40% ABV is not doing justice for this tasty, yet young dram.