Distillery photo by Fumaro Via Wikimedia Commons

Region: Islay

Location: Bruichladdich, Islay, Argyll

Status: Operational (owned by Bruichladdich Distillery Co.)

General whisky characteristics: Smooth, passion fruit

More great distillery info here thanks to Malt Madness

Photo by Canthusus Via Wikimedia Commons

The Younger & No Age Statement Range(s)

Bruichladdich, 'Waves', 7y, 46% ABV

Original presentation

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Bruichladdich, 'Rocks', 46% ABV

Original presentation

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Coppery red

Nose: Fiery fruit and a hint of what I call 'Bruichladdich blige pump' which means sea water mixed in with engine room.

Palate: Very lively and spicy on the palate with a mixture of fruit, barley and even a hint of liquorice towards the finish.

Finish: Spicy and long with just a hint of liquorice.

Overall Impression: Like other younger Bruichladdich I've tried this is very lively, or spicy, on the palate with what I can only personally describe as a slightly raw feel, in so far as it is much less smooth than it's older siblings.

Bruichladdich, 'Rocks', 46% ABV

New presentation

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Pale yellow with a very slight touch of copper

Nose: Malt, ice cream wafer (or cornet) but not the ice cream itself and a touch of fruity white wine.

Palate: Initially creamy and smooth, extremely light butterscotch and gentle fruit.

Finish: Medium to long with light toffee or is it butterscotch again?

Overall Impression: This new edition is a totally different whisky to the previous one. Whereas the previous one immediately makes its presence known with an all out assault right at the front of the palate, this one has much more subtlety and gently coaxes the middle and sides of the palate with a much less fierce approach. This is a much more easy-drinking whisky which I prefer to the older version.

A mix of Bruichladdich & Cooley's Irish whiskey

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Light copper

Nose: Faint but typical Bruichladdich 'bilge pump' aroma with just a hint of aniseed.

Palate: Initially smooth with plenty of passion-fruit in evidence alongside spicy banana and fresh bread dough, or was it pizza base dough?

Finish: Medium with fruit

Overall Impression / Author's Note: This is a very strange, as in unusual, whisky which really does show its roots from both Scotland and Ireland. In one of my tastings a few years ago I heard this described as having a Scottish nose and an Irish mouth, which is not far from reality. Unfortunately, at that time it was not a well-liked whisky for exactly this reason. This particular bottle was in the back of a cupboard and I decided to open it a few months ago and found once again that it was not much different; slightly sour and very disjointed. But alas, what a difference a few months make; it was returned to the cupboard and forgotten about for 6-7 months before I revisited it this last week. Suddenly it is much smoother, more rounded and even balanced. I normally dislike the effects of oxidisation, but in this case it seems to worked some real magic and turned a disjointed half-breed into something quite palatable. My recommendation? Open it, try a dram or two, then put it away for 6-8 months and try it again.

Vintages and Ages

Bruichladdich, 15y, 46% ABV

Second edition

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Warm copper

Nose: Initially very fresh, almost minty. After a few minutes the mint recedes and the nose opens into a very pleasant one of hay, straw and young fruity red wine.

Palate: Smooth, oily cream spreads across the palate with hints of violet and basil, but these quickly fade, leaving a long, slightly bitter aftertaste of red wine and faint hints of blood orange.

Finish: Long

Overall Impression: Much better than my notes may suggest, I like this one!

Bruichladdich, 'Islands', 20y, 46% ABV

Third edition

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Overall Impression: I do like this 20y bottling, very easy to drink.

Bruichladdich, 2003, 5y, 46% ABV

Organic

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Extremely pale yellow, not far removed from water in colour.

Nose: Fresh malt, oat biscuit, lightly floral with the slightest hint of crispy bacon.

Palate: Light, floral, very slightly spirity and leaning toward 'maritime' in character.

Finish: Quite long, in fact growing in stature over 1 minute or so, slight liquorice and malt.

Overall Impression: This is releaased as Islay's first organic whisky so if I was expecting farmyard, manure and other 'organic traits' that readily come to mind thanks to recently opening my compost tip and distributing the 'healthy' stuff around the garden, I was, very thankfully, disappointed. This is only 5 years old but really quite light and floral with just a hint of spirit and liquorice. I sincerely hope they have a few casks of this maturing further on the 'laddie Estate as I'd love to try it again soon and also in a few years time!

Bruichladdich, 16y, 46% ABV

One of a series of 6 First Growth; "E" Chateau Y'Quem Sauternes

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Bright 18 carat gold

Nose: Nice. Wood, slight hint of rubber, faint redcurrant, wine and just the slightest hint of aniseed.

Palate: Smooth but with a slight peppery tingle in the middle and front of the palate. Redcurrant, blackberry and creamy toffee.

Finish: Long, smooth and fruity.

Overall Impression: Wonderful, one of the best Bruichladdies I have tried and it seems at the perfect age. I want more!

Sherry; Infinity & 1986 20y Editions

Brief Tasting Note: Lots of sherry and dark fruit with the typical Bruichladdich passion fruit also in the background. Not quite so smooth or rich as I would have liked from a sherry cask.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Bruichladdich, Infinity 3, 50% ABV

Edition 3.1

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Rich gold to sunny amber

Nose: There's sherry, it's also quite fruity, but do I detect some peat too?

Palate: Very smooth start with fruity overtones but there is indeed also an element of peat. After some seconds the spicy, fruity peat declares intent by occupying the front of the palatre and refusing to budge as it tantalises and tingles for an eternity, or is it infinity?

Finish: Long, very long with peppered fruit, finishing eventually on pears.

Overall Impression: Very smooth and very long with an element of peat and an abundance of fruit. Not your typical sherry monster, but a little more subtle and very nice indeed.

Brief Tasting Note: Wonderrfully rich and smooth with sherry, wood, dark fruits and berries.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Brief Tasting Note: Once again wonderrfully rich and smooth with sherry, wood, dark fruits and berries.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Bruichladdich, 1992, 17y, 46% ABV

Sherry Edition; Fino

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Light gold

Nose: Wood, new leather, slight spirit and strawberries.

Palate: Warming faint butterscotch and light toffee.

Finish: Long and smooth with that faint toffee and butterscotch. Almost fruity, but not quite.

Overall Impression: Smooth and creamy, very drinkable but not so complex. A good, uncomplex, honest dram which I may like to pair with a dessert including a caramel sauce.

Bruichladdich, 1992, 17y, 46% ABV

Sherry Edition; Pedro Ximenex

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Light walnut, almost amber

Nose: Freshly polished aged oak with raisins dunked in sherry,

Palate: Smooth and warming marzipan, walnut, sherry and oak, with a hint of fruit.

Finish: Medium to long, warming and smooth. Hints of almond and walnut marinated in rich, old red wine, perhaps even cognac.

Overall Impression: I make no apology for being a fan of good sherry cask whisky, and although slightly lighter than many, this is a very good example.

WMD; 'Whisky of Mass Distinction'

Brief Tasting Note: Smooth, rounded & balanced with a pleasant fruity base. Very nice.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Links; The Golf Courses

The 16th hole, Augusta

Typical cost of this bottle; originally €€€€€ now €€€€€

Colour: Light gold

Nose: Quite fresh with malt, nuts, grass and after some minutes a little new shoe leather.

Palate: Starts smooth then the tingle penetrates the tip of the tongue. Slightly oily with some hay, lots of fruit and a little creamy ice cream.

Finish: Long, with fruit on the middle of the palate and a lasting tingle on the tip of it.

Overall Impression: Nice fruity dram from the 'laddie stable

Turnberry 10th

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Golden copper

Nose: That Bruichladdich fruit overlays malt and just a slight sea air breeze.

Palate: Smooth fruit building into just slightly spicy berries and nuts.

Finish: Long and tingly

Overall Impression: Another good 14 Bruichladdich. This seems to be a pretty decent age for this distillery. Trust me, this does not need water it's perfectly fine without.

Royal Liverpool, Hoylake

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Copper

Nose: Fresh and fruity farmyard

Palate: Deliciously creamy vanilla ice cream and slightly spicy butterscotch

Finish: Medium with nuts and butterscotch.

Overall Impression: A really good 'anytime' dram. Smooth, easy drinking.

K-Club (Ireland)

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Rich gold, dark copper

Nose: Floating mid-Atlantic in a rubber dinghy with a bottle of light, fruity red wine.

Palate: Initially smooth and cream but then the liveliness comes through with a tingle right on the front of the palate. This also brings a creamy fruit flavour, almost ice cream.

Finish: Medium to long with a lively fruity tingle.

Overall Impression: The liveliness, or tingle, coming from this dram reminds of some younger expressions, but this is far from young at 14y and the flavours are definitely true to this age, with red wine, fruit and a hint of the Atlantic. A slightly different, but jolly nice dram from Bruichladdich.

Torrey Pines (USA)

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

"Dram-atics" live review

Colour: Coppery gold

Nose: Butterscotch, popcorn and a slight leafiness. This is a very outdoor or open countryside nose.

Palate: Silky, creamy, leafy, with hints of a milky malt drink.

Finish: Very long and quite leafy.

Overall Impression: This is a very mild, silky and creamy Bruichladdich which could be enjoyed at any time of day, although it lacks a little intensity in my opinion.

The Vancouver Club, Canada

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Copper with just a touch of light red wine

Nose: Fruity cognac and very light red wine with a hint of freshly rising bread dough. After a few minutes the fruit comes through and dominates.

Palate: Extremely smooth and creamy, slightly oily texture and lots of fruit including typical Bruichladdich passion fruit, cherry, peach & bramble.

With 3 drops of water; More intense flavours and slightly sharper (more spicy tingle).

Finish: Long, fruity and creamy.

Overall Impression: A very good Bruichladdich at what seems to be the perfect age. I like it!

St. Andrews - Miniature bottle from 3-pack

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Rich gold, light copper

Nose: Malt, autumnal wet leaves and that strange but typical Bruichladdich bilge pump.

Palate: Really quite smooth, but light in flavour with leaves, fruit, faint leather and very light, freshly sawn wood.

Finish: Long, fruity, creamy and then switching to slightly bitter right at the end.

Overall Impression: This is an NAS Bruichladdich so I expected a rather lively and rough young whisky, perhaps similar in style to the Rocks and Waves 6y variants I have previously tried. What I found here was much smoother and certainly without the rough and fierce edges of those two. This is really a quite pleasant dram in texture and finish, but perhaps a little light in flavour and character.

Peat & The 3D Range(s)

Bruichladdich, 'Peat', 46% ABV

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Nose Typical Bruichladdich bilge pump and engine room with a hint of burnt rubber and smoke.
No, this is not unpleasant, but that's just how it noses!

Palate: The house style of Bruichladdich is a fruity base, possibly passion fruit and this dram is no exception to that, but it also has hints of slightly burnt rubber and a ship's engine room. The 'peat' gives a further dimension of smoke as if the engine has just burst into flames and is smoking the place out.

Overall Impression: Despite what you may think from the notes, I do like this dram. It has that typical 'laddie fruity style with a gentle peaty smoke which creeps up gradually as if trying to surprise. When it does fully arrive, it is really much peatier than one would have first thought.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Brief Tasting Note: Soft, gentle & warming peat with typical bruichladdich fruit in there too.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Brief Tasting Note: Lots of peat, but slightly less fruit and more harsh than Peat Proposal.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Glass: Spiegelau

Colour: Gentle, light gold

Nose: Peat, a little smoke, sweet fruit and that typical Bruichladdich blige pump!

Palate: The initial hints of fruit very quickly give way to gentle peat which builds on the palate into something pretty good.

Finish: Medium to long

Overall Impression: I like this one very much, maybe even more than the original Peat Proposal which was a favourite of mine.

Port Charlotte

Brief Tasting Note: Wild, unadulterated, full strength peat and smoke pounding the palate into total submission. A monster, but one you must try if you find it!

Typical cost of this bottle; Originally €€€€€, now €€€€€

Typical cost of this bottle; Originally €€€€€, now €€€€€

"Dram-atics" live review

Glass: Classic Malt

Colour: Dark gold (21ct)

Nose: Peat, Atlantic jetty, a little sweet rubber and that often typical Bruichladdich bilge pump make this a 'laddie with attitude.

Palate: Ferocious peat, quite sweet, it needs some water.

With 4 drops of water: Slightly sweeter, but still lots of peat.

4 more drops of water; Sweeter nose, but also more fragrant.

A further 4 drops of water; This is now manic peat with just a touch of light rubber.

A final 4 drops of water: Smoother and sweeter, less intense. It was better before this last 4 drops.

Finish: Extremely long with peppery peat.

Overall Impression: A very good peaty Bruichladdich, This has more attributes of the PC5 than the PC7 which means it is still a little young and fiery, but it packs a big punch which takes quite some taming. Not for the timid but it's a massive whisky!

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€ (but only just over the €75)

Glass: Classic Malt

Nose: Peat over that typical Bruichladdich passion fruit.

Palate: Much sweeter and smoother than I expected. The initial flavour is that of the passion fruit, but this soon grows to include peat and smoke which lingers on the palate for a long time.

With 4 drops of water: The fruit rather than the peat increases on the palate with water. This is quite surprising.

Overall Impression: I remember this distillation as the PC5 and it was a real monster. This has now experienced 2 more years of maturation and I have to say, it is better for it. This whisky is much more civilised, smoother and yet it still contains lots of peat and smoke for the peat-heads amongst us.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Glass: Classic Malt

Colour: Golden yellow

Nose: Sweet peat and lots of it. Once again this is a sweet, fruity peat whisky with gentle hints of rubber dinghy on the open sea.

Palate: An initial burst of typical Bruichladdich passion fruit followed by sweet peat, but it really announces its high abv and needs some water.

With 4 drops of water: The nose is now more conventional peat, but the palate is still initially creamy and fruity, rather like peaty ice cream (did anyone ever think of making that flavour; Islay ice?)

4 more drops of water; really help the peat on the nose and also remove the fruit and ice cream from the palate, leaving more intense peat and smoke.

A further 4 drops of water; really mellow this whisky into a gentle peat treat, but I think this may have really been 4 drops too far.

Overall Impression: A very good peaty Bruichladdich, it needs water, but not too much!

Octomore

Bottle No. 7755 of 15,000

The peatiest whisky ever? 140ppm

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Glass: Classic Malt

Colour: Extremely pale yellow

Nose: Extremely pungent bilge pump / engine room with fruity peat.

Palate: Earthy fruit with extreme alcohol, needs water.

With 5 drops of water: Fruity peat on the nose and much sharper on the palate.

With 5 more drops of water: Slightly rubbery nose with fruit, smoke and peat. Smoother palate.

With 5 drops of water: Much more rubber on the nose and very smooth on the palate.

Overall Impression: Here is Bruichladdich's answer in the ppm numbers game and supposedly comes in at 140ppm, but is this so much more peaty than the rest? Definitely not. It is more pungent with what I refer to as the Bruichladdich 'bilge pump' scenario, but the peatiest ever? Hardly. Is it good? Hmmmm, I think I prefer the 3D range!

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

"Dram-atics" live review

Glass: Classic Malt

Colour: Rich coppery amber

Nose: Banana skin, red wine (almost tawny port), a little sulphur as sensed when a burning match is extinguished.

Palate: Quite different to the nose as this has lots of peppery red wine, dark red fruits and an amazing amaretto kick-back through the nostrils, but it needs water.

With 5 drops of water: Enhanced fruit (dark cherries), red wine and a touch of cognac over faint smoke.

With 5 more drops of water: Smoked ham now joins the red wine and cognac.

With 5 drops of water: Even more fruit with the red wine

Finally 5 more drops of water: Peat now emerges from the hidden depths of red wine and cognac.

Finish: Red wine and fruit with more peat as water is progressively added.

Overall Impression: I feel as though I could continue adding water all night to this dram as it just got better and better each time I did. This is a delightful and amazing whisky, but surprising at the same time as the red wine and fruit almost totally dominate the peat. Is that a bad thing? Certainly not, it's fantastic. Gimme more ... and more .... and more ......

The "X" Factor?

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Glass: Classic Malt

Colour: Extremely pale yellow

Nose: Extreme burn from spirit with a hint of smouldering electric cabling.

Palate: Quite smooth, but extreme spirit with hints of lenor fabric conditioner.

With 5 drops of water: Hints of liquorice just beginning to appear, but it needs more water.

With 5 more drops of water: Lighter, rubbery palate

With 5 drops of water: Warmer and gentler but still quite spirity, although there is now more fruit on the palate with peach, apple & pear.

Overall Impression: I didn't manage to write tasting notes but some time ago I did try the X4+1 (Valinch) which was just a spirit monster, like an untamed grappa. This one is still full of spirit at 63.5% abv, but it does tame somewhat with water. It is also pretty smooth and eventually, when watered beyond 50-50 it does turn quite fruity, although it never abandones its origins of quadruple distilled, mega-spirit.

The Whisky Exchange "Br1", 53.6% ABV

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

"Dram-atics" live review

Glass: Classic Malt

Colour: Yellow gold (9ct)

Nose: Very floral, vanilla and ice cream. After some minutes a maritime element appears which confuses natural geography as a delightful Springtime Alpine meadow is suddenly placed alongside an Atlantic beach on Islay.

Palate: Fruit cocktail served with vanilla ice cream on that Atlantic beach.

With 4 drops of water: Vanilla and freshly cut wood on the nose. The palate also remains quite light with freshly cut wood, lots offruit but slightly less Alpine flora.

With 4 more drops: Again lots of fruit and vanilla on the nose which translate nicely onto the palate with aromatic wood, star fruit and melon.

Finish: Long, even longer with water and baskets full of fruit, albeit slightly dry.

Overall Impression: An extremely fruity Bruichladdich which must be from an excellent bourbon cask and un-ACE'd. A delight, I love this whisky!