Thursday, February 11, 2016

BRUICHLADDICH 'ISLAY BARLEY'


Still perched on my stool at McCormack's Big Whisky Grill, and fresh off an immensely satisfying Glen Moray 16, I had originally intended to follow up with another Speyside I'd had my eye on, BenRiach 15. Then I saw something that changed my mind - Bruichladdich (BROOK-laddie or BREW-ah-klad-dee). Not the core 10 year old (now replaced by 'Classic Laddie'), but a foursome of alternative expressions perched in a row: Scottish Barley, Islay Barley, Port Charlotte, and (the notorious) Octomore.

With so much buzz surrounding this Islay distillery, I've had a hell of time finding their stuff in Virginia. After this, I'll be a Kilchoman short of having tasted at least one malt from every distillery Islay has to offer, and I'm saving their core 'Machir Bay' expression for my next visit here. Back to the malt in hand, I'd been looking forward to tasting the 'Laddie since before I began this blog. It was just one of those that seems to pop up in every article, review, or conversation about scotch, yet had eluded me until now...

Richmond's (in)famous Pipeline Walk
This was to shaping up to be a rather scotch intensive weekend, with some long overdue Richmond experiences thrown in. Besides my first visit to MBWG, likely the largest bar in Virginia and among the top 20 whisk(e)y joints in the US, I would soon spend a gorgeous afternoon at Maymont, as well as finally doing the Pipeline Walk through raging class V whitewater flood conditions on the James River (not for the faint of heart). I would get to tip back drams of Glen Moray, Bruichladdich, and Dalmore, and finally polished off my Laphroaig QC during the Super Bowl. I even came across a documentary about Islay whisky on Netflix (more of an infomercial really). Not too shabby for February in suburbia.

I'd seen references to Bruichladdich as formerly the 'ugly duckling' distillery of Islay with rapidly changing ownership and periods of mothballed inactivity. In 2001, the facility was finally resurrected, modernized, and rebranded as 'Progressive Hebridean Distillers'. It lays claims to being the "biggest private employer on the island" with its staff of 50 Islay natives.

The distillery releases malts under three different monikers: Bruichladdich (unpeated, ~2 ppm), Port Charlotte (heavily peated, ~40 ppm), and Octomore (insanely heavy peat, 140-258 ppm!!!). Octomore Orpheus was named the coveted '2010 Whisky of the Year' in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible. All three are made only with Scottish barley and Islay spring water, never use caramel coloring or chill filtration, and none are ever outsourced for blending. In addition (and this is certainly a first), the Bruichladdich Distillery also produces The Botanist Islay Dry Gin.

Bruichladdich is keenly focused on terroir, a quality normally associated with wine varietals more so than distilled spirits, but also takes pride from their local sourcing of materials: "Our water comes from farmer and friend James Brown's Octomore farm up the hill behind our Port Charlotte warehouse; our Islay barley is dried in the sheds of the Wood brothers, Andrew and Neil, up the road at Octofad farm. We believe in community."

Of the four on the shelf, I decided on the Islay Barley 2009 expression. If Bruichladdich was known primarily as the unpeated Islay malt, it seemed an appropriate introduction. A 2007 edition had sourced barley from a seaside farm, Rockside (now owned by Kilchoman) and is known to showcase its maritime influence. This 2009 version features Publican and Oxbridge varieties of two-row spring barley, this time pulling from more inland sources: "distilled from grain grown in 2008 by Gilbie McCormick of Claggan, Hunter Jackson at Cruach, Ian McKerrell of Island, and Alastair Torrance from Mulindry." Gotta love the shout-out to the farmers, a nice touch. There's even a map of the farms, bios on the farmers, and microclimate statistical analyses all included in the 2009 malt's 11 page brochure.

Surprisingly, I couldn't find much info on this expression's cask aging protocol other than a tasting notes about "spicy bourbon" and "oloroso richness that only Jerez [sherry] casks can provide". As far as age is concerned, the website rails: "We directly challenge the tyranny of the arbitrary age statement." Except we know it was distilled in 2009, so it's at most 7 years old, likely younger. Mystery solved, let's drink...

I had been warned about one unfortunate characteristic aroma of (now discontinued) Bruichladdich 10, and it seems to have reared its head with the Islay Barley 2009 malt as well. Fresh out of the bottle, the first whiff carried the unmistakable aroma of baby vomit. The parents among us know exactly the smell I'm talking about. The unpleasant sour note of bile and curdled boob juice was an alarming setback, but the good news is there's a fix. Letting the malt breathe a few minutes helped downplay it in my case, but online consensus of those with similar experiences seems to involve adding water. That would have been really nice to know at the time.

Once the fog lifted off the nose, I was able to get a bit of ripe fruit - grapes, peaches, citrus. All quite soft actually, with some herbal and floral notes alongside.  Vanilla and oak began to emerge on the nose after my first sip, finally having shaken off the baby spittle.


No off key notes on the palate. The full-bodied maltiness was a surprise after the soft nose, reminiscent of some of my favorite Highland malts more so than Islay. Buttered pancakes, honey, almonds, caramel. Oak tannins, raisins, and spice seemed more concentrated toward the bottom of the dram. Not terribly fruity, and everyone else seems to mention mint, but I certainly didn't pick that up. Finish was warming and malty. Smooth with a slight acidity, medium length.

Overall balance was nice, maybe leaning a bit towards sweet, but I wouldn't say any of the flavors had any significant depth, likely a consequence of its youth. It probably didn't help I had just sampled an intensely rich and complex 16 year old Speyside malt, and the younger, lighter malt was suffering by comparison (always start with the lighter whisky...oops!).

I had lofty expectations for this malt. The sheer effort Bruichladdich puts forth to produce artisanally crafted single malt whisky, maximizing their relationship with the Islay community and locally sourcing its raw materials, toeing the line between respect for tradition and creative interpretation; it all certainly deserves respect. There was a disconnect with this one though, a fundamental gap between appreciation and enjoyment of the finished product. Ultimately, I was underwhelmed and disappointed. Damn. At least next time I'll know to add water.

Overall Grade: 80/100, B-

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