Hi everyone,
I’ve got some long forgotten reviews here from a Bruichladdich tasting in Cardiff from 2014ish I think, organised by a local whisky club.
The tasting itself was fantastic, the lady doing it (sorry, can’t remember the name!) was great and talked while we tasted but not in an intrusive way.
These weren’t the only ones we tasted. There was also the Port Charlotte Scottish Barley but I’ve already posted that review for the community review.
Anyway…
Bruichladdich Scottish Barley 50%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: Light and fruity. A lot more fruit and less coastal than the 10yo. Very light on the nose though, some apples and pears, very light citrus with lemon and yeast- dough.
Water: More coastal and malty with chocolate.
Taste: Big compared to the nose. Lots of citrus- lemon, quite coastal with sea salt and seashells, malty too with some light chocolate.
Water: Even bigger! Banana, lots of salt, more citrus and acidic too- lots of lemon.
Finish: Medium/long length. An unpleasant fruity acidity, some lemon and dry oak.
Very very light nose but big taste. Not as good as the old or new 10yo though.
70/100
Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2007 50%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: Light notes of the Scot barley- light fruit, coastal notes, citrus and malt but with more oak. Lemon, sea salt, chocolate, much more vanilla and honey, a lightly earthy oak note.
Water: More banana, less of everything else. Some fresh herbs coming through after a bit. Coconut, almond and vanilla fudge after a while.
After more time (1 hour) it goes really nice with loads of thick vanilla fudge and toffee, white grape.
Taste: Lighter but building, less intense taste than Scot barley. Lemon, building oak and spice, some banana and salty lemon.
Water: More banana, more herbal after a bit- some heather and clove, vanilla fudge.
Finish: Medium/Long length. Lemony with dried oak.
Rockside Farm, 2007, 3rd release. 6Yo Bourbon matured. Give this one time, it was great when I came back to it at the end. You’ll find my 2009 review here.
74/100
Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1 1990 49.2%
Colour: Dark Gold
Body: Medium/Full
Nose: Sherried and older- Full and creamy with loads of raisins, cream, almonds, cream sherry, lots of Oloroso sherry, some brown sugar, a small note of old oak and leather but mainly very fresh. Chocolate, cherry and complex oak.
Water: Creamy and sweet, some aniseed and liquorice. Honey, more apple, pear and lighter.
Taste: Quite light but mouth coating with fruit, sherry and oak. Raspberry, cherry, tiny bit of salt, some raisin and oaky spice.
Water: After 20 mins- Leather, leather armchair, old tobacco but a little sharp.
Finish: Short/Medium length. Creamy and light, raisin with spice and oak.
23yo from 6 different types of casks of American and French oak. I was a little disappointed with this, it’s just a little too thin and the finish a little too short. Still very good whisky! The new 5.1 is epic though.
78/100
Thanks for reading!
Whisky Reviews #353-#355
Network Average: 74.5
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
