Bruichladdich
Fact Sheet
Founded: 1881
Current owner: Bruichladdich Distillery Company Ltd.
Stills: 2 wash, 2 spirit
Capacity: 1.5 million litres per year
Location: Bruichladdich, Isle of Islay
Website: www.bruichladdich.com
Notable Facts: Bruichladdich was mothballed from 1994 to 2000. It was bought by a consortium around the independent bottler Murray McDavid an then reopened.
Report of my visit to Bruichladdich Distillery
Bottlings
May 7, 2012
The delightful nose suggests a higher age, but the palate is still vibrant and youthful. The very strong sherry suits the very strong spirit very well. – Rating: 88/100
April 11, 2012
The sweetness is a little too dominant here to make it a truly great malt. Still quite a good dram, though. – Rating: 85/100
April 11, 2012
Ultra-rich in taste but quite sweet, this is a great dram for contemplative sipping with a little going a long way.
– Rating: 89/100
January 10, 2012
This dram has a rather medicinal character. If you like that style of whisky, you will love this one. – Rating: 87/100
January 7, 2012
A great heavily peated malt, very strong smoke combined with a nice underlying sweetness. It is still a bit young and rough but it’s an excellent dram. – Rating: 89/100
December 16, 2011
Both nose and palate of the new Laddie flagship are so packed with flavours that it’s difficult to point out single aromas. There is a ‘coastal’ element that clearly sets it apart from the old expressions. Brilliant! – Rating: 90/100
December 2, 2011
A nice malt, typical for the unpeated Bruichladdich house style, perhaps a bit on the spicy side. – Rating: 84/100
October 2, 2011
A really nice wine finish here, the cheese note is barely noticeable but adds an interesting dimension to an already very flavourful dram. – Rating: 84/100
November 19, 2010
This is the first Port Charlotte bottled at drinking strength. It’s noticeably lighter bodied with a rather gentle and almost delicate character compared to the earlier “heavy duty” PC bottlings. – Rating: 85/100
September 26, 2010
The colour suggests a sherry monster, but already the nose is lacking depth. You can well taste the PX sherry but the whisky seems to be missing. A failed attempt to save an inferior cask with a strong finish. – Rating: 73/100
July 28, 2010
The unusual combination of strong peat and red wine works amazingly well. It tastes pretty much like a piece of smoked ham marinated in Bordeaux wine. – Rating: 87/100
June 28, 2010
Another creation of Vatting Wizard Jim McEwen. Distinctively spicy – even more so than Talisker – but the strong fruit and peat back it up to a certain extent. – Rating: 83/100
June 10, 2010
This fruity dram needs a few minutes to fully develop its armoas. Very sippable! – Rating: 84/100
May 10, 2010
It rather has a purely phenolic peatiness that lacks the notes of smoked ham or the likes that are often found in peaty malts. But the general character is much gentler and more accessible than that of the Supernova. – Score: 86/100
February 23, 2010
A very nice vatting, quite peaty but the typical Laddie fruitiness is always present. – Score: 86/100
October 31, 2009
A very nice balance of spice and fruity sweetness. The amount of finish is just about right making it a very enjoyable malt.
– Score: 84/100
October 15, 2009
A nice unpeated Laddie, good balance of fruit and spice – Score: 82/100
July 31, 2009
Generally, I don’t mind the combination of sweet and spicy in a whisky, but somehow this one does not appeal to me very much. – Score: 74/100
July 31, 2009
Not bad but a tad to sweet for my taste. If tasted blind might even slip through as an Armagnac – Score: 80/100
July 18, 2009
Very complex aromas that I can’t possibly hunt down all. Exceptional for such a young whisky. – Score: 88/100
Mentioned in These Articles
May 17, 2012
A summary of the Scotch single malt blind tasting competition
February 1, 2012
The latest Highland Park release sets new standards in a variety of ways.
October 10, 2011
I received an invitation for this year’s Whisky Show organized by The Whisky Exchange at Vinopolis in London. Even though it was not quite easy to fit this into my schedule, I decided to accept anyway.
July 22, 2011
This is an entirely subjective collection of whisky pricing monstrosities that I have come across in the past months.
June 13, 2011
Yes, I really mean it!
April 11, 2011
“The International Whisky Competition is the premium whisky competition in the world.” So the website of the competition proudly states. Bold words indeed from the newcomer who entered the ever-growing award and competition circuit in 2010.
January 29, 2011
I have recevied a document from an anonymous source shedding light on the inner workings within the marketing departments of the Scotch whisky industry.
January 28, 2011
I am so excited to present you the lastest experiment of the Dramming Research Kitchen: The spirit-ual equivalent of turning water into wine.
January 1, 2011
Just before Christmas I was enjoying a celebratory dram or three with my old friend Keith Wood of Whisky-Emporium.com and as often happens after a few Drams and when the night draws in, we set about putting the world, or at least whisky world, to rights.
November 13, 2010
The whisky industry uses Twitter in many different ways. Let me introduce you to a couple of industry tweeps – the selection is not exhaustive but should give you a good overview on what’s happening.
November 2, 2010
Year of Birth: 1962
Place of Residence: Haddonfield, NJ, USA
Profession: Journalist
Whisky Involvement: Podcast
September 6, 2010
Among whisky lovers there is a constant debate on how whisky has changed over the years. It is not recommendable to generalize. And to answer the question prematurely: “Yes, but all of it”
August 31, 2010
Place of Residence: Turckheim, France
Profession: Advertising agency
Whisky Involvement: Ratings, Tasting Notes, Malt Manaic
May 23, 2010
No, this is not really supposed to be a tourist guide. In this article I would like to share my experiences of Islay that are not related to specific whisky distilleries. I had never been on Islay before, so I think the title is appropriate.
May 22, 2010
Finally we have come to the last of the eight working distilleries on Islay, Ardbeg. What might surprise some of you is that Ardbeg actually is the smallest of the seven “old” Islay distilleries in terms of capacity and bottles sold per year.
May 17, 2010
The installment of Kilchoman in 2005 was highly acclaimed for two reasons. Firstly because it was the first new distillery to be built on Islay for 124 years. And then the concept of a small farmhouse distillery makes Kilchoman something unique.
May 16, 2010
Bruichladdich is something special. To understand this distillery you have to know that they have a vision: Turning whisky from an industrial, mass produced commodity back to where it came from – a regional craft product rooted on the talent of local people.
May 15, 2010
Often overlooked or regarded as the least interesting of all Islay distilleries, Bunnahabhain is something like the ugly duckling or grey mouse of the bunch. So I was very eager to learn a bit more about it when I set off to Bunnahabhain on my first morning on the island.
April 11, 2010
On April 10 the The International Whisky Competition (IWC) closed its doors. It was being held in Chicago where a panel of six high profile whisky experts judged 47 whiskies that had been entered into the competition.
January 31, 2010
Experiments have always played a role in whisky making, especially since the single malt boom took off in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With about a hundred distilleries in Scotland alone, it became neccessary to stand out from the crowd.
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