With Port Charlotte 10 showing me what Bruichladdich can do, already having enjoyed the Classic Laddie despite a strong preference for peat, I was eager to see what a different take on a peated expression would be like.
Minutia: The batch number is 16/024 bottled in 2016. This batch includes a variety of vintages and cask sizes/types. You can find the specific breakdown with their batch transparency lookup using that code if you so choose, but the general breakdown is 1st fill ex-Bourbon barrels, 1st fill ex-Spanish Ribera del Duero hogsheads, 2nd fill ex-French Loire Sweet White hogsheads, and one 2nd fill ex-Spanish Sherry butt. All barley was sourced from the Scottish mainland. This was enjoyed neat in a glencairn and rested a bit.
Color: Stained wood, very much in the middle of the brown spectrum.
Nose: Strong cheese funk before rest, citrus, apple, salty smoke, iodine, seashells, and a very subtle hint of malt.
Taste: Much less going on than in the nose, but more pronounced. Like breathing while deep at sea, mainly a salty smoke.
Finish: Long, a sweeter version of the palate. You know you had whisky a while ago. There’s a hint of a wine taste, and it feels like it’s a wine I’d like.
This is like a campfire while deep sea fishing, if that was remotely safe to do. I’m glad people who don’t like peat get to enjoy Bruichladdich’s unpeated expressions, but again I find myself surprised and impressed they bother to make – and succeed at making – an excellent unpeated spirit when this is what they could be producing with all of their barley, stills, and casks (Octomore is probably too much to reliably sustain a distillery). I really like the recipe transparency they offer on most expressions, as well as their endeavor to emphasize terroir. I’m hopeful the similar emphasis on terroir (if not moreso) by Waterford in Ireland will yield similarly intriguing results, and possibly inspire other distilleries to experiment with it.
Score: 92
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