Overview
£350. That’s what this retails for now! I bought this (second bottle) for £50 from Oddbins in Knutsford when it was closing down?!??! (Tries to wipe smile off face and fails)
This whisky won Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible’s “Best New Whisky” and “Best Whisky 12 years and under” back in 2009, and it’s very easy to see why.
Peated to 40ppm and just 6 years old, this was one of master distiller Jim McEwan’s signature bottles during the renaissance of Bruichladdich in the “noughties”. It’s fairly “youthful” and the raw peat influence hasn’t had time to soften in the cask. At 61% proof it needs a drop of water to release those subtle flavours and “open up”.
| Colour | Nose | Palate | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orange blossom honey | Wood smoke, hot butter, biscuit, pain au chocolat | Toasty butter, lots of oak, lots of peat, lots of iodine | Long… long…. long… peatyness, spiced fruit, ginger and malt loaf |
Conclusion
This started to put Bruichladdich on the map, and you can see why. Amazingly complex for such a relatively young whisky. Massive powerful, heavy peat which belies it’s 40ppm somehow. It’s the sort of “baptism of fire” high-peat-but-amazing-flavours-whisky you use to introduce people to Islay malts. In fact, I did just this 4-5 years ago in the Pot Still on Hope Street in Glasgow and both the “Islay virgins” fell in love with “the peat”.
93%
Rating
