A bag of crazy Bruichladdich at high strength, part 2


January 18, 2017

A bag of crazy Bruichladdich
at high strength, part 2

Good, we’ve recovered…

Bruichladdich 10 yo 2005/2016 (59.2%, Svenska Eldvatten, fresh sherry, cask #452, 264 bottles)

More high-octane Bruichladdich by those crazy Swedes… Colour: amber. Nose: starts rather sharp and grassy, with bags of fresh walnuts and broken branches, and would rather go on with some leather, cocoa, and tobacco. A wee feeling of soft curry spices. Very few raisins, if any. With water: damp earth, autumn leaves, moss, drops of turpentine… Mouth (neat): fights and hits you, with some grassy, bitter, and almost chilli-like notes. Tabasco, bitter almonds and walnuts, spent lees, ultra-strong green tea (last night’s pot, while you had forgotten to take the leaves out)… It’s definitely very spicy. With water: have I already mentioned bitter walnuts? This baby is very extractive, to say the least. Spice bread. Finish: ultra-long, very herbal, very spicy. Drinking a blend of walnut oil and Worcester sauce. And there, only in the aftertaste, two or three sultanas. Comments: maximum power. More a dragster than a Bruichladdich! For lovers of extreme feelings… SGP:371 - 83 points.

Let’s insist…

Bruichladdich 2003/2013 (56.3%, Malts of Scotland, cask #MoS 13051, 285 bottles)

Colour: deep amber. Nose: just as grassy as the Svenska, but also much more sulphury. Metal polish, used matches, green walnuts, maraschino, sour kirsch, leather… These sorts of things. With water: became very, very grassy. Burnt turnips, leather, some sulphury smells. Mouth (neat): heavy, extremely leafy and rather bitter, and indeed rather difficult. Sour fruits, bitter oranges, curry powder, leather… With water: a little better IMHO, but still very leafy and bitter. More fresh walnuts, with their skin. Finish: long and pretty bitter. Bitter chocolate, some pepper, some artisan kirsch eau-de-vie. Comments: interesting at times, but I don’t believe there’s much pleasure to be had here. SGP:271 - 77 points.

Bruichladdich 25 yo 1991/2016 (54.6%, Douglas Laing, Xtra Old Particular, refill hogshead, cask #11204, 197 bottles)

Back to reason, I hope. Colour: white wine. Nose: impeccable, yet austere, with the trademark melons (rather green ones) and ‘Atlantic sea air’, as well as raw barley and perhaps a fistful of wet beach sand. A little fresh mint too. Perhaps a little shy, but many natural Bruichladdichs from the 1980s and 1990s were like this. With water: fresh apple juice and more green melons. Grist and dust after a rain. Mouth (neat): good, fresh, all on fruit salads with a little coffee. Zests, apples, greengages… Now it’s still a little new-make-y, I guess this was neither second fill nor third fill. With water: more grassy parts, green tea, fruit peeling… Finish: medium, always very grassy and pretty austere. Comments: unsexy yet fair and fresh. Typical natural and free of tricks Laddie. Sometimes tricks do work! SGP:451 - 80 points.

Owners, the floor is yours…

Bruichladdich 23 yo 1984/2008 ‘Golder Still’ (51%, OB, 4866 bottles)

A bottling from the distillery’s most epic years. I had never tried this Golder one, but I remember well its predecessor, the Redder Still that used to look like if it was bottled right for the Chinese New Year. That one had been to my liking (WF 87). Colour: gold. Nose: a different world, this is much more civilised, rounded, soft, and delicately cake-y and fruity. Biscuits, Danish pastries, apricots, custard, vine peaches, and distant whiffs of sea air. The Loch Indaal, you see. With water: more vanilla coming out. Custard pie, streusel… Mouth (neat): creamy and soft at first, then rather more herbal and liqueury. I’m thinking Bénédictine, Chartreuse, Fernet and all that, plus perhaps a little pepper and ginger liqueur. In fact it tends to become really spicy. Again! With water: a fruit salad with dashes of ginger and pepper. Finish: medium, rather oakier than expected. Green tea tannins and pepper. Comments: the nose was much softer than the palate, which was spicier. Janus! SGP:551 - 86 points.

(Thanks Greg and Paul)

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