A Scot on Scotch

WHISKY REVIEWS, NEWS, HISTORY & FOLKLORE

Solving the world’s problems with the Bruichladdich dram

The Friends of Bruichladdich (F.O.B.) is a Facebook-based fan community dedicated to the Islay distillery and its various whisky (and gin) brands. The group is easily one of the most active of its kind and the admin team that runs it has always been on the ball when it comes to exclusive bottlings. The latest special edition Laddie to be made available to F.O.B. members was a 13-year-old 2010 vintage, matured in a combination of first-fill Bourbon and Amarone casks. The release really highlighted the strength of this online community – a whopping 1,881 (more on that number later) bottles were produced which meant bottles had to be shifted by the case.

In the past, group admins, Derek and John, have been able to offer each release by the bottle, with some members taking one, some two, some four etc. That’s OK when you’re dealing with a single cask of roughly 300 bottles but increase that to almost 2,000 and things become a wee bit more complicated. Amazingly, though perhaps not surprisingly, Laddie fans came together and made arrangements to split cases among friends and soon enough, every single bottle was spoken for. For my part, massive, massive respect must go to David Manson, co-founder of the excellent Ayrshire Whisky Group and all-round sensational human being. David put out the call and organised a few cases on behalf of interested parties everywhere, ensuring that each bottle got to the right person in due course. It was an absolutely heroic effort.

At the risk of going off on a tangent (what’s new?), occasions like this really spotlight the positive side of social media. It’s fashionable to dislike the socials these days, and there are many good reasons for that but sometimes I find myself reminded of what appealed to me in the first place. Social media doesn’t always have to be a platform for misinformation and hate speech, it can still be somewhere people meet to celebrate their shared interest in a particular topic.

In my role as Kinship Host with the Islay Whisky Academy, I’m often struck by how unifying whisky can be. People from all over the world, from different cultures, backgrounds and belief systems come to Islay to explore Scotland’s national drink. We all spend a week together, getting to know one another, enjoying the experience – and the whisky. No doubt we have our own unique takes on the hot topics of the day but sitting together, sipping our drams, we’re not so different. Groups like the FOB can be an online reminder of that fact.

The inexperienced may wonder what it is about Bruichladdich that inspires such a loyal following and there’s no simple answer to that. Being a great whisky is good start, of course, but there are lots of them around. Tapping into the desire for provenance and transparency is also appealing. Lots of new releases, each with an interesting selling point of its own, helps to maintain a high level of interest. Then there’s the distillery itself, a beautiful Victorian relic (built in 1881 – remember those 1,881 bottles?), that perches on the rocky shore of the Rhinns peninsula.

Standing outside the distillery you’ll feel the full force of the Atlantic as it hurls its wind and rain in a temper, but inside you’ll find as warm a welcome as anywhere in Scotland. Which brings up another key point: the people. Bruichladdich has had some wonderful people driving it over the last twenty or so years. Characters with stories to tell. Scotch whisky is all about stories in the end, and Bruichladdich has more than its fair share of them. The stories, the people, the place, the whisky. That’s what makes it special.

Friends of Bruichladdich. 13-year-old. 2010 Vintage. Review.

The whisky is an Islay single malt, though in the traditional Bruichladdich style, it’s made with unpeated barley. The spirit was aged for 13 years in first-fill American oak bourbon barrels and first-fill French oak Amarone red wine casks. It’s bottled at 56.9%.

Tasting notes: The first thing I noticed on the nose was a touch of oak char, like charcoal and barbecue coals. Even a touch of burnt toast. There’s also honey-flavoured breakfast cereals, hard toffee sweets, digestive biscuits… then come some cherry and plummy red wine notes from the Amarone. The palate is almost the other way round with the red wine showing in the arrival with notes of raspberries, plums and cherries. That’s followed by burnt toffee and deep, dark oak. Towards the back, was some of the charcoal note I got on the nose. A splash of water released honey, some dry grass, a wee bit of citrus peel and dried mixed spices.

Thoughts: I must admit, I’m not totally head over heels on this dram. It’s not a bad whisky, but it’s maybe just not to my personal taste. The bourbon / Amarone combination is quite good fun but it veered a wee bit too heavy on the oak for me. Things improved with water – there was still plenty of cask character, it was still oak-dominant but there were also a few glimpses of Bruichladdich’s barley-centric spirit character coming through. That shift towards a bit more balance made the experience all the more appealing. Not a solid gold classic but enjoyable enough.

Price: £100. Probably not worth the price, if I’m honest, though it actually looks pretty good value when compared to some of Bruichladdich’s other prices of late. Especially where limited edition releases are concerned.

For more on Bruichladdich visit here

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