Earthy, smoky, and unmistakable, peat is one of whisky’s most distinctive and divisive flavour signatures. Formed over millennia from decaying vegetation in waterlogged bogs, it carries the fingerprint of its origin. The flavour of the smoke depends on where the peat is cut, shaped by the landscape’s flora and fauna.

In this edition of The Flavour Index, we compare 24 peated whiskies from around the world to explore how geography, peat composition, and production choices shape their character. The list is not exhaustive, but it offers a guide to understanding how place transforms smoke into flavour, from the gentle hearth-like warmth of the Highlands to the briny power of Islay and the earthy depth of whiskies made far beyond Scotland’s shores.