Bruichladdich 12 Year Old (Second Edition)

I thought I had better write this up as it is the last of the bottle. It had a clear and appealing golden colour in the glass. The nose was warm and buttery. The first impression on tasting was the smoothness and approachability of this malt. Initially it was warming with a mellow and sweet butteriness coupled with an oaky dryness in the follow. On the whole this was a classic low peat Bruichladdich. The bottle says 46% alcohol but this was so smooth I wouldn't dream of diluting it.

Bruichladdich Cask Sample Tasting

If you put money in a cash ISA you are guaranteed to lose some with interest rates lower than inflation. So it seemed to me that barrels of whisky would be a much better bet. My wife and her sister agreed. This is a tasting of our latest batch of cask samples.

Bourbon Cask 2005 - This is the original investment and should be ready for bottling next year. It has a pale yellow colour. The nose is predominantly of a mild sweet barley mash. The flavour is of a mild but warming sweet barley grains.

Bourbon Cask 2008 - Similar colour and nose to the 2005. Surprisingly smooth and very similar taste although obviously higher alcohol content.

Bourbon Casks 2010 - Same colour and nose as the previous two. Really smooth and snowing a lot of promise. This demonstrates barrel variation. The next cask sample of the same year we tried was noticeable creamier. Looks like an interesting collection of casks for this year.

Riversaltes Cask 2008 - Lightish yellow brown colour with a sweet grainy nose. I really enjoyed this one with its combination of sweetness from the wine and malty barley from the mash with just a hint of butteriness.

Riversaltes Cask 2009 - Similar colour and nose to the 2008. Very similar to the 2008 so hats off to the distillers for achieving great consistency. We tasted barrels 3654 and 3651 and it was amazing how similar they were.

Port Charlotte 2008 - Pale yellow colour with predominantly alcohol on the nose. What a wonderful taste. Typical Bruichladdich smoothness combined with just the right amount of peat. A brilliant place to end the tasting.

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte/First Cut

I hope the sight of this old git filling a bottle of Whisky doesn't put you off too much. This is something special - a cask strength bottling from the first distillation after the reopening of the distillery. I can guarantee it is cask strength as I filled the bottle from the barrel myself. For the record it is bottle 654 of 950 of cask number 007, distilled on 28th May 2001 and bottled in May 2007. Well, actually it was bottled in early June 2007. Bruichladdich put it on for the Islay Whisky Festival the week before.

It has a rich brown colour, which I find surprising as it has had only six years in a bourbon cask. The strength is 61.5%.
Nosing it I sense a nectar like sweetness with a strong woody smell.

This is one for gentle sipping at this strength. Tasting it, the power of the spirit is marked but not overpowering. There is a strong wood taste and there is also a strange combination of dryness and marzipan sweetness. I am not sure how it works but I can think of no other way to describe it. It seems amazing to me that this can be so good after only six years in the cask. It's character is such that it is thoroughly enjoyable without watering despite the alcohol content. If this is what the new regime at Bruichladdich are capable of then we are in for an interesting time as more of their handywork becomes available in the coming years. Adding a drop of water allows the marzipan to come through more along with a mellowness that defies the youth of the dram. To me this is a well made and thoroughly enjoyable malt whisky that makes me look forward to future specialities from this distillery. If you get the chance, take a trip to Bruichladdich and grab a bottle while you still can.

Bruichladdich Rocks

Here's another one from the Laddie stable I am afraid. Rocks has started appearing in our local supermarkets in place of the ten year old. I speculate that this because we are now into the gap when the distillery wasn't working so the stock for making a consistent ten year old expression isn't there. Rocks has been put together to plug the gap.

The colour is interesting being a light brown, with what looks like a hint of pink. On the nose there is warm fruitiness overlaying the spirit. Coming to the taste there is a hint of the marzipan of the ten year old but with a bit of peat as well. However the whole is not as mellow as the ten year old with harshness about it. It's pleasant enough but to me it is a bit of a fence sitter. It doesn't have the mellow simplicity of the ten year old but it is not a peat monster either.

Bruichladdich Infinity Second Edition

This is one of the bottles that came back with us from Islay. I gather that rioja casks played a part in its creation. At 52.5% there should be a good kick at least. It has a good brown colour with just a hint of red about it. There is a mustiness in the nose that makes me think of old fashioned sweet shops. Whew, it is a strong one. This is drier that most with a lot of wood. A touch of water helps the flavour develop but it was much better with Ronnie's water from the burn. It's making me think of the scent of a freshly pulled cork from a bottle of red wine.

The bottle is just half full as we opened it one night with Ronnie and Marie. The picture shows Marie, Ronnie and Dot on the steps of the front door to the Monachs. It is said whisky that is in the glasses held by Ronnie and Dot.

During the evening we ran out of water from the Burn so I was dispatched by Marie with an empty whisky bottle to get some more. She pointed out the general direction of the burn over a barbed wire fence. Well I managed to negotiate a second fence and fill the bottle without getting my feet too wet. On the way back I spotted that Ronnie had installed a stile over the fence higher up. I don't think Marie could have known about it as she was quite surprised when I returned with no search party required.

When we caught up with Ronnie in the morning he was feeling bad as he had an empty bottle of Infinity in the kitchen. He cheered up when I assured him that we hadn't actually drunk the whole lot the night before and pointed out that it was an empty bottle of the first edition, which was sherry casked. Happy days.

Islay in the Summertime and a bit of Bruichladdich Peat Ale

Way back in February I was enthusing about our planned trip to Islay. At the time we were told we would actually be there during the Whisky festival. It turned out that we missed it by a week. That wasn't a bad ploy as the distilleries still had the festival specials available without the crowds. I had meant to post to the blog every night while we were there but I am afraid good intentions went by the board in a malt induced haze. How does anyone manage to blog from Islay? So here I am a full fortnight after our return.

We had a tremendous time staying with Ronnie and Marie at the Monachs. There was a lot of catching up to do as they are old friends of my wife's parents. On the first night Ronnie whipped out a bottle of ten year old Jura, which he said was on special offer in the Coop! I recall it was a warming drink with a hint of butterscotch. For watering he had a bottle of peaty water from the burn near the house. I don't usually water my malt but using Ronnie's water was a completely different experience as it brought out the flavours magnificently.

During our stay we borrowed bicycles from Ronnie so that we didn't have to worry about who was driving when it came to sampling time. Hence the picture at the top of the page of Dot cycling past a local landmark. This picture was taken after our tour of the distillery so I must have been very controlled with the tastings. Maybe it was something to do with it being 11 o'clock in the morning. We did buy a couple of very interesting offerings from the shop, which I will say more about on another occasion.

On one of our trips we called in at the Islay Ales brewery. It is a great wee place and well worth a visit. The tour was reminiscent of home brewing on a big scale. As I write this I am actually drinking the strangest beer I think I have ever had, Bruichladdich Peat Ale. It has been brewed using the same peaty malt that Bruichladdich use for Octamore. At first taste it was a bit of a surprise but it is certainly growing on me. There is a strong medicinal taste which reminds me of Caol Ila. I have never had the chance to try Octamore to see if it carries through into that whisky. Unfortunately my chances of trying it are slim as we found out at Bruichladdich that the last batch is already fully sold although it is still in the barrels. The hop varieties used in the beer have matched up with the peat smoke flavours well to give a harmonious if strange result. As an aside, the other guests at the Monachs couldn't get over the fact that our brewery purchases were waiting in our room when we returned from our day's cycling. That's Islay for you.

Glenmorangie Ten Years Old

A couple of years ago I thought I was concentrating too much on Islay malts and should consider spreading my net wider. This Glenmorangie was on offer in the local supermarket so I bought it to try in view of the distillery's fame and reputation. It says a lot that I still have some left so that I can do a tasting for the blog.

It is bottled at 40% with a pale straw colour. The nose is a pleasant floral and honey sweetness. On the palate all I get is that typical mainland butteryness and not a lot else. If you like a straightforward easy malt this is for you, but I must say I prefer something a bit more complex and interesting myself.