
August 11, 2016

Little duets, today by The Laddie

What more to say about Bruichladdich? I remember well the reopening party, they had that giant 40 yo lobster that no one was ready to ‘attack’. Luckily, there were two hungry (and thirsty) Alsatians and… we just ate the whole beast. Superb flesh, those lobsters used to feed on distillery waste and they were really getting huge!

Bruichladdich 9 yo 2006/2015 (56.7%, Single Cask Nation, first fill bourbon hogshead, 153 bottles)

I believe those were already the unpeated batches, while they had started very lightly peated in 2001. Colour: light gold. Nose: starts with a creamy vanilla, fresh sponge cake, and raw barley from ‘one of those farms’, and gets then finely herbal and minty, with a meloniness (yeah right) that’s rather green than yellow or ‘orange’. Relatively firm and ‘solid’ for a Laddie. With water: classic relatively ‘naked’ Bruichladdich, with tiny whiffs of sea air and even touches of antiseptic. A drop of Port Charlotte in there? Mouth (neat): really very punchy, a little fizzy at first (Schweppes Orange), then totally fruity, with blood oranges, the obligatory melons (any kinds), and perhaps nectarines. The grassy backbone starts to stand out after ten seconds, so rather the melons’ skins than their flesh. With water: same, plus a little mint. It even got sweeter. Lime liqueur? Green tea. Finish: long, fresh, with some peat smoke now. Comments: top class young Bruichladdich that doesn’t taste ‘young’, possibly thanks to an excellent hogshead. SGP:652 - 87 points.

So that one was young, but the cask was first fill – and yet not dominating. Let’s see if we can find the opposite, an older Bruichladdich from a refill hoggie this time… Oh yes we can (sounds a bit 2000s, S...)

Bruichladdich 26 yo 1989/2015 (52.1%, Douglas Laing, Xtra Old Particular, refill hogshead, cask #DL10859, 225 bottles)

The younger one was post-reopening, this one’s pre-closure. Colour: light gold. Nose: nah, this is unquestionably more complex. I’m not saying ‘superior’, but more complex for sure, with brighter fruits, around oranges, ripe kiwis, those melons, and perhaps cranberries and the sweets made thereof. Perhaps very tiny notes of lavender, which isn’t bad at all here. With water: indeed, lavender bonbons and many flower, lilies, lilac, honeysuckle… Mouth (neat): a feeling of lavender sweets, and something 1980s-Bowmore-ish, but without excesses. In France we used to have violet-flavoured liquorice, called Zan. That was superb. Also Seville oranges but quite curiously, no melons this time. With water: limoncello! I often find limoncello in good whiskies, which I like, maybe I should start limoncellofun.com. Ach, better not. Finish: medium, with more lemony things and even a touch of mango. A dash of salt in the aftertaste, which is rather very Bruichladdich. Comments: super-good once again. Same ballpark, even if styles are opposite. And yet close. An yet opposite… Oh… SGP:651 - 87 points.

Check the index of all Bruichladdich I've tasted so far