Only those who truly love smoky whiskies can truly appreciate them. In a process called adsorption, burning peat creates smoke containing molecules called phenols that attach themselves to the barley. The two processes to measure ppm are Ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy or High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) - the latter considered more accurate. However, here’s where I introduce a word of caution on using PPM to measure the smoky elements in whisky. Throughout the process of brewing, and especially distillation, phenols are continuously lost to varying degrees after the initial PPM measure is taken.

Source: Forbes October 29, 2017 17:37 UTC