Islay distilleries are famous for their distinctive peaty whiskies, but what exactly is peat?

Peat is an organic fuel that is commonly found in bogs across Islay and many of the other islands around Scotland. It’s made from compressed layers of organic material such as grass, heather and moss, and formed over thousands of years.

Every year, during the warmer summer months, islanders will make the trip to the peats bogs to cut away slabs of peat, leaving them in piles to dry out, before taking home to use as a fuel for their fires. The smoke from a peat fire has a warm and distinctive aroma.