Welcome to
Whisk(e)y Reviews
August 2021
with
An Introduction to Bruichladdich
Given my love of Scotch, especially from Islay, it has been a surprise to people when I would say that I had not tried anything from Bruichladdich. Much of this problem had come down to availability, the state--run stores of Pennsylvania generally did not carry anything from Bruichladdich. Yes, every once in a great while something might pop up in a store, or you might have been able to submit a special order for something, but those items are hard to get. Thankfully, Bruichladdich recently arrived in my local stores in the form of The Classic Laddie and Port Charlotte 10 year.
If you subscribe to any whiskey newsletters (sign up for ours!) or participate in any whiskey groups, you will find much love for Bruichladdich. I am not going to delve into the history of the distillery, but definitely take a look at our epic interview with the legend, Jim McEwan. The one thing I will say is that Bruichladdich is different than your average distillery. Their level of transparency is amazing. As an example, if you have a bottle of Classic Laddie you can find the recipe code on the back of the bottle. Using this code, you can go to the distillery website to enter your code and find the details around what's in your bottle. The geek in me just loves this, but more importantly, you can see what goes into a typical batch of Scotch. In the example that the distillery has available, the batch is a vatting of 76 casks, 5 different vintages, 3 types of barley and 8 cask types. That is a lot of whiskey and there is a lot of variation in those casks.
Yes, I did spend hours on the Bruichladdich website, looking at the specifications of the various offerings that they have. While they do have some hard to find offerings, I was happy just being able to get the Classic Laddie and Port Charlotte 10 year, and see what they had to offer. Both are reasonably priced Islay single malts, but the Classic Laddie is unpeated while the Port Charlotte is heavily peated with a phenol level of 40 parts per million (ppm). Now that we have all of the details out of the way, let's see what Bruichladdich has to offer.
The Classic Laddie
Class: Islay Single Malt Scotch
Price: $70
Notes:
-
No Age Statement
-
Distilled, Aged, and Bottled by Bruichladdich Distillery, Islay, Scotland
-
100% Malted Barley
-
Bottled at 50% ABV (100 proof)
-
Natural color, non--chill filtered
Nose: 84/100
Pear and some light chocolate greet you immediately. Unbaked bread dough sits directly beneath. Honey and a touch of pineapple sit at the edges.
Palate: 84/100
Light and oily. Milk chocolate, vanilla, and pear start the dance here. It does get a little warm and fairly quickly. Honey does make an appearance, but not very strongly. The pineapple comes through as well, but is almost bitter.
Finish: 88/100
Wow, a lot going on. Vanilla, honey, pear, and milk chocolate all vie for attention, but in a very refined way. A bit of dry oak lingers in the background. Pleasant, long, and warming finish.
Overall: 85/100
Recommendation: Buy it now!
This is just delicious Scotch. Fruit, honey, chocolate, and bread dough all play in this intricate dance. For the price, this is a hard value to beat. More than anything, this whisky surprised me. I love big, bold flavors like peated or sherry finished scotch, but this is just so well done you need to buy some.
​
Port Charlotte Heavily Peated 10 year
Class: Islay Single Malt Scotch
Price: $70
Notes:
-
10 years old
-
Distilled, Aged, and Bottled by Bruichladdich Distillery, Islay, Scotland
-
100% Malted Barley
-
Bottled at 50% ABV (100 proof)
-
Natural color, non--chill filtered
-
65% 1st fill American Whiskey casks, 10% 2nd fill American Whiskey casks, 25% 2nd fill French Wine casks
Nose: 82/100
Light peat and pear lead the way. Milk chocolate and vanilla provide the backdrop. After a little time in the glass, a malty breadiness appears in the background.
Palate: 88/100
Rich and oily. Milk chocolate and earthy peat mingle nicely. Vanilla and pear follow quickly. Just really well balanced.
Finish: 80/100
Vanilla and pear take the lead. Peat is apparent but not overwhelming. Finish is fairly short and a touch warm. A bit of dry oak appears as well.
Overall: 85/100
Recommendation: Must try!
Peated Scotch is always a hard recommendation. In addition, this was almost disappointing for me. Don't get me wrong, it is a very good Scotch. However, there is a lack of balance that throws off the experience. The palate is outstanding while the finish cannot compare. It is definitely worth a try for most people because it is still at a reasonable price.
What did we learn?
The most obvious thing we learned is that expectations are terrible things. This was my first time trying both Scotches, and there is plenty of love for Bruichladdich out there. Given my love of peat, I fully expected to like Port Charlotte more than The Classic Laddie. The tasting experience was completely different, and I can tell you that even though the scores are the same, I enjoyed The Classic Laddie more. It has a more balanced profile, and the finish really completes the experience. The palate for Port Charlotte may be outstanding, but it is so much better than the other parts that it leaves you wanting more.
All that being said, these are great Scotches at a great price. You really can't go wrong with either of them and they are great introductions to the Bruichladdich line.
