American
Unearthing
PEAT
Part Two
UNIQUE FLAVORS
Local Peat's Role in American Whiskey
Written by SAILOR GUEVARA Photos provided by THORNTON DISTILLING
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ast summer, I wrote about American peated whiskey, focusing on Brother Justus Distilling Co. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I began pondering how other U.S. distilleries were using their local peat and how these varying landscapes' flavors were showcased in the final product and sat down with Ari Klafter of Thornton Distilling in Thornton, Illinois, to learn more about another distillery sourcing local peat. While studying at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, Klafter remembered seeing a graph of peat from different regions in Scotland. Then, while analyzing regional peat samples in a gas chromatograph, Klafter saw different clusters with his own eyes. “I had never seen it clustered chemically and recognized differences in these substances, not just anecdotal flavor characters. There are genuine differences in character.” “We hear anecdotally that Islay peat is more phenolic and Highland peat is floral,” said Klafter. After this experience studying peat samples, it was easy for Klafter to understand why deposits from different regions would have such distinctive characteristics. W W W . ARTISANSPIRITMAG . C O M
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