Bruichladdich 10 Year Old

The Laddie Ten – there has been plenty written about this whisky already. It is the long-awaited standard bottling from the resurrected Bruichladdich distillery on Islay. Obviously lots of people were keen to taste and review this when it first appeared but I’m going to add my thoughts anyway, mainly because I’ve just polished off a wee 20cl bottle that I picked up recently.
 
This is really good stuff. I tried it once at the Bruichladdich distillery and kind of dismissed it. At the time, I was on Islay to drink peaty whisky so didn't pay this much mind. Also, I was giddy at the prospect of trying the Octomore 4.2.

But more recently I’ve had the opportunity to try the Laddie Ten in isolation. And taken on its own, away from the smoke monsters from the rest of Islay you can appreciate how good this is. It’s creamy - that’s the main thing that I’ve got from it. It reminded me strongly of Ice-Cream soda – vanilla flavour, dairy richness with a bit of lemonade sweetness. But it’s not sickly sweet - it's just like a lightly creamed and sweetened water (you can have that slogan for free Bruichladdich). I'd even go as far as to say delicately flavoured, it's easy to see how this might get a little lost up against a Laphraoig or an Ardbeg. But this is easy-drinking and very moreish. And creamy - did I mention that?

In terms of smell (sorry, nose)  – I got butter mixed with a bit of burnt sugar. Strangely, a bit of balsa wood and woodglue. It looks nice too, pale with a nice oiliness to it.

The bottle and packaging are nicely stylish – very clean and bold. As I’ve said before, thankfully Bruichladdich manage to back-up their eye-catching packaging with excellent whisky. 

It’s not the cheapest – at least £30 for a bottle, although that said it is bottled at a slightly higher than average 46%.  

There are many whiskies I’ve tasted and enjoyed thoroughly but usually after finishing a bottle I'm keen to try something else. The Laddie Ten has joined the small list of ‘I’d buy another bottle’ which to be honest is about as strong an endorsement as I can give.

Bright Young Things

So I was just talking about whisky possibly being “too old”. But what about youth in whisky? As I said in my last post, the impression you get when starting out in the world of whisky is that single malt has to be at least 10 years old to be any good. 10 or 12 seems to the minimum age of most distillery entry level bottlings.

Obviously whisky can be younger (although it needs to be at least 3) but most stuff released before it turns 10 goes straight into making up the numbers in blends. But is there any good single malt whisky under 10?

Yes, of course there is. I just didn’t know this until recently. The realisation came about during two distillery visits on Islay. The first was genuinely a shock. You may have heard of Octomore whisky – it is produced by Bruichladdich and is the world most heavily peated whisky. It is £100 a bottle.

Also it is only 5 years old.

It seemed amazing that they would try and charge £100 when you could get a 20 year old for that kind of money. Thankfully I was lucky enough to try Octomore 4.2 at Bruichladdich and it’s one of the most amazing whiskies I’ve ever tasted – it was fresh and smooth and surprisingly light given the extreme phenol levels. I didn’t take any proper notes and this isn’t a review but one of the things that surprised me the most, considering the age, was how smooth it tasted. £100 is a lot of money but I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to shelling out that much for a bottle.

So an exceptional young whisky – but maybe that was it, it was an exception. An experiment with high phenol levels that’s produced a freakishly good 5 year old.

The next encounter with young whisky also took me by surprise but mainly because I didn’t realise it was under 10 until after the tasting. I stopped by the Laphroaig distillery, firstly trying the 10 Year Old (a familiar favourite) and then tried the Quarter Cask for the first time. I was won over by this – it really is very flavourful and I’ll post a review in due course. However I had assumed at the time it was a variation on the 10yo but didn’t realise until much later on that whisky is only 6 or 7 years old. The whisky spends 5 years or so matured in full sized casks and then is finished in ¼ cask. The greater surface-area to whisky ratio of the smaller cask means its finished differently and more speedily. Not to the detriment of the whisky I hasten to add - quite the opposite.

So two young whiskies discovered within a couple of days. One of them an experiment but the other a widely available standard bottle.

And the more I’ve looked into this they seem to be everywhere (often referred to as No Age Statement). Sometimes it seems they are bottled at a younger age to get a preview of what they will be like later on. The consensus on tasting notes is that younger whiskies are shorter on the finish but a bit fresher in the taste.

So that’s it. My interest is piqued and it is another facet of whisky to explore. The next whisky in the crosshair is an expression of the highly regarded Kilchoman - the oldest of which is only 5. Watch this space.

Bruichladdich Infinity 3

To Infinity and Beyond…

With the tiresome pun out of the way the question is, is this whisky any good?

And the answer is a resounding yes. This is an excellent whisky. Why is it excellent?

Firstly the finish is wonderful. Long after going down there is a satisfying and warm clinginess. The closest comparison that comes to mind is the mouthfeel after having had a glass of full-bodied red-wine. It has the same rich, red fruit taste mixed in with a hint of wood and peat. This is no doubt due to part of the whisky mix having been finished in Tempranillo casks.

It’s kind of whisky you need to pause and close your eyes after drinking so you can focus of the flavour and the feeling.

The wine-y-ness doesn’t come through immediately though, as the whisky passed first my lips, the initial thought was that it was akin to a light fruit cordial drink, or watered down lemonade.  Quite unusual that it seems quite light to start with, then settles in to a complex and rich after taste. It is 50%abv but it is delightfully smooth with no alcohol burn, maybe a little sting on the tip of the tongue. I put a tiny drop of water in but it’s just as good without.

The smell is what really sets this whisky up as something exceptional. Very complex and whenever I pour myself a dram I can't help but keep drawing in deep sniffs of it - it really is rather addictive. There is lots going on here but it’s all complimentary. There wine influence is there again, this time reminiscent of standing in a cool cellar amongst wine barrels. The woodyness is much stronger and there is a touch of smoke too. It’s a hugely comforting and evocative aroma. I also picked up a bit of burnt sugar, possibly due to the influence of some sherry finished whisky.

Given what I’ve just said you expect it to look pretty and it does. A pleasingly deep, dark gold colour, it looks like it will promise a depth of flavour.

I can’t let this review pass without mentioning the bottle either. As you can see from the picture it is black and completely opaque. Personally I think it looks very sleek and stylish. Producing such a stand-out bottle could have gone one of two ways, if the whisky hadn’t been up to scratch this bottle would have definitely made the whole package worse –  it would give it an air of fur coat and no knickers, style over substance. As it is, given the excellent whisky contained within the bottle it actually makes revisiting the whisky rather satisfying. Although one minor criticism is that it’s almost impossible to tell how much is left.

I would add in a word about Bruichladdich here but I think they might be worth a separate blog post. A recent trip to their distillery was in turn enlightening and thought-provoking and, like them or not, they’re one of the most interesting distilleries out there.

Finally a word on cost. I picked up my bottle at the Bruichladdich distillery for £42 (using a £5 off tour voucher). A quick look on-line shows it’s generally available for around that amount. For me that puts it in the price bracket of ‘treating myself’ or ‘generous gift’ from someone close, rather than regular go-to bottle.

But what a treat it is.