Bruichladdich 15 yo ‘Links’ series, Birkdale, England
A smokeless whisky from Islay? Yup.
Those familiar with Bruichladdich would know the story of it’s convalescence and revival, and the stock of old whisky ‘rescued’ by wood finishing in every kind of suitable cask they could get their hands on, which led to the myriad bottlings and series bearing strange names like WMDII ‘yellow submarine’:
I had this bottle in the past and remember it to be really winey, not a bad ‘table whisky’.
Regular Bruichladdich is almost unpeated, but the same distillery also happens to make the most peated whisky around – Octomore with a ppm of 150-160+. By comparison regular Ardbeg is peated to 55 ppm, though Supernova is peated to 100ppm. Seriously, with that much peat, could it be that this is a case where too much of a good thing is well.. bad?
To top it off, Bruichladdich also makes a gin – The Botanist – using the Lomond still it took from the old Interleven distillery in 2010.
With the plethora of bottlings and the no efforts spared attitude, one thing is sure – can’t blame the folks at Bruichladdich for trying…
Bruichladdich 15 yo ‘Links’ series, Birkdale, England
Nose: Definitely some of sherry/wine casks in here. Light floral honey, fresh fruit. Citrus and pineapple? Something warm in there as well. Vanilla or nutmeg. Recharred bourbon casks? But all in all rather spirity.
Palette: Malty sweet but explosively spirity really quick, and pepper.
Finish: Not long, not medium even, and somewhat sour and nail polish-y. Eh.. well.
Eh well, to be fair, the test is really in the distillate of the Mark Reynier era, the proof of that pudding the whisky world will opine on soon enough.
—————— Edit 4th Feb 2014 ———————
Out of sheer curiosity, I came back to this lonesome bottle this evening, just for kicks, and to compare tasting notes.
Shock! The gap of air created by the first pour has improved this whisky by a good margin!
I knew oxidation has its benefits but I did not realize the difference could be so noticeable – or perhaps this is just one of those whiskies that needs to breathe a little before it can be judged fairly.
In comparison:
Nose: Definitely some of sherry/wine casks in here. Light floral honey, fresh fruit. Citrus and pineapple? Apricot! Also lightly floral, bouquet in a vase in the living room. Scented candles. Something warm in there as well. Vanilla or nutmeg. Recharred bourbon casks? But all in all rather spirity. Doesn’t seem to be the case now. Still has strong oak notes, but now it speaks with a light linseed oil smoothness. the spiritiness has become something kinder. Eucalyptus perhaps.
Palette: Malty sweet but explosively spirity not so any longer, but a real quick spiciness like chilli really quick, and pepper. Yes that’s unchanged. Also tends towards the waxiness, turning dry. Lots of dry oak woody notes, and tannic.
Finish: Not long, not medium even, and somewhat sour and nail polish-y. Eh.. well. Nope, it’s now lightly spicy finishing off with those persistent woody notes.
A marked improvement! Sincerest apologies to the ‘laddie. However, though the nose is much improved by air, the palette still shows itself as rather overbearing and simple, not quite matching the nose.
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