Mac-Talla 'Flora' lightly peated Islay Single Malt

Mac-Talla means "echo" in Scottish Gaelic — an apt name for a range built on the Morrison family's deep, generational connection to Islay. They owned Bowmore for decades before selling to Suntory in 1994, and their understanding of the island's character runs well below the surface. Flora is the newest expression in the core range, and it takes a deliberately different path from its siblings.

Where Mara is a coastal bruiser and Strata leans into layered richness, Flora is built around restraint and botanical delicacy. Lightly peated Islay spirit, matured across a combination of PX and Oloroso sherry casks (70%) and ex-bourbon barrels (30%), then vatted and returned to second-fill sherry butts to marry before bottling. The result is a whisky that smells of heather, gorse, orchard blossom, and soft stone fruit, with wood spice sitting quietly underneath. On the palate, the peat is present but never dominant — a thread of smoke woven through heather, smoked almonds, butterscotch, and warm nutty sweetness. The finish is honeyed, floral, and unhurried.

Bottled at 48.2% ABV, non-chill filtered, natural colour. For anyone who thinks Islay whisky begins and ends with peat, Flora is a gentle and convincing argument to the contrary.