Bruichladdich 10 Year Old Old Bottling Whisky Review - Plus A Bonus!

There's nothing like a bit of liquid whisky nostalgia. Particularly when it harks back to a different era of Islay's modern history and one of it's more... Progressive distilleries. But this is a two-for-one. We're  looking at two opposite ends of the Bruichladdich spectrum here!

First off is a 10-year old unpeated Bruichladdich single malt. There have been a couple of iterations since, but this was the first edition of the 10-year old that was released under the distillery's new (at the time) owners that had rescued it from a 7-year period of neglect, including a 5-year period of outright closure. Back in 2000-2001 the consortium headed by Mark Reynier and the legendary Jim McEwan had a tough road ahead, including rebuilding a lot of neglected equipment and making use of of existing whisky stocks that were filled into cask prior to the distillery's closure in 1995. A myriad of cask finishes and limited releases left the gates on the shores of Loch Indaal in those early years, but I'd argue that it was the 10-year old unpeated core range bottling that held a special significance and really put the distillery back on the map. When I say core range bottling, though, it didn't last forever. There was this first expression that I'm looking at today which lasted until around 2010, then a revamped version distilled under the new owners circa 2001 which saw the name shortened to "The Laddie Ten", along with the pale blue tin that has since become an icon. That was then followed by the fleeting appearance of a second edition of Laddie Ten that was released in 2016, but with a wildly different cask recipe. None of them turned out to be permanent, and since then we're yet to see a core range / permanent expression of a 10-year old Bruichladdich hit the shelves. Instead the distillery has focussed on the non-age statement Laddie Classic, and a wide range of younger vintage releases including the Organic, Islay Barley and Bere Barley series of bottlings, while printed age statements don't come into it until you hit the higher price ranges. Meanwhile the distillery's heavily peated Port Charlotte brand has seen a 10-year old become a permanent / core range expression, after a couple of short-lived iterations were released in the previous decade. 

Will we see another permanent Bruichladdich 10-year old in future? There would have to be a decent amount of similarly aged casks sitting in the 'laddie warehouses on Islay, but I'm not so sure. When a distillery's younger whiskies are of such consistently good quality I don't think there's any need for an older age statement bottling in the core range. Neighbouring Islay distillery Kilchoman is in a similar situation, where their core range whiskies are the ideal balance between cask & spirit. Both distilleries want their fresh, fruity & sweet spirit to show itself, and when excellent quality spirit is combined with excellent quality casks there's no need for longer ageing periods. Age and maturity are often two separate things, and the all-important distillery character is kept intact by bottling at younger ages while keeping quality levels high. That seems to have become even more important for Bruichladdich under Adam Hannett's reign as Head Distiller, and also under Remy Cointreau ownership. The fancy & exotic cask types and more cask-forward bottlings are reserved for limited releases like the Micro Provenance single casks (spoiler alert - see below!) and older bottlings like the Black Art & Rare Casks series and the older travel exclusive bottlings. That's not the case with Port Charlotte though where we see more exotic cask finishes and more cask strength bottlings, while on the other hand Octomore does seem to have calmed down when it comes to casks - and also peating level - in the last couple of batches. Does that mean the unpeated Bruichladdich offerings are taking a back seat these days? Certainly not, I think it's more of a combination of the unpeated bottlings being more spirit-led and using more refill casks, and the Port Charlotte 'brand' having recently gone through a complete refresh from the range of expressions & cask types, plus the packaging and even the bottle itself.

This particular Bruichladdich 10-year old that we're looking at here was bottled circa 2007/2008, and at 46% ABV - the distillery didn't adopt it's current 50% ABV policy until the mid-2010s. What's interesting here though is that the distillery was closed from early 1995 to late 2000 under Whyte & Mackay ownership until it was resuscitated by the then-new owners in early 2001. Which means that a whisky bottled in 2007-2008 with an age statement of (a minimum of) 10 years can't actually be ten years old, and would have to contain some older whisky. There's no information on cask types for this older bottling, but we can safely assume that it was a combination of refill ex-bourbon and ex-sherry, plus possibly some finishing casks in there as well. Naturally it's non-chill filtered and naturally coloured, which has been the distillery's policy since it re-opened twenty years ago. But that's not all folks... This review is a two-for-one deal! We're looking at two polar opposites from the same distillery, even without peat entering the equation, albeit from different stops on the distillery's timeline. The second subject of this review is a Micro Provenance single cask bottling, a.k.a. "Cask Evolution Exploration" - which is basically Bruichladdich's single cask program, not including the distillery exclusive Valinch bottlings. This particular single cask was exclusive to German bottle shop Weinquelle - which translates to "Wine Source" in English. This is an 11-year old unpeated Bruichladdich that has been fully-matured in a "Premium French Sweet Wine" cask, distilled in 2007 and bottled in 2019 at a cask strength of 60% ABV. I'm no wine expert, but "Premium French Sweet Wine" is interestingly generic, because the term immediately makes me think of the famous Sauternes sweet wines. But Bruichladdich bottle a large amount of Sauternes casks and to my knowledge always label them as such, and that's also the case with Vin Doux Naturel / VDN and Rivesaltes, which would've been my second and third guesses. One possibility is that it was a similar style to one of those famous labels but it was made outside of the geographically protected areas that those names can legally apply to. Regardless, we don't know exactly what type of wine this cask previously held, other than it being sweet and French, but for our purposes that's plenty. These two whiskies are basically snapshots from opposite ends of the Bruichladdich spectrum, and this is going to be an interesting comparison! 

Bruichladdich 10-year old (old bottling), 46%. Islay, Scotland.

Bottled circa 2007-2008, distilled under Whyte & Mackay. Unknown cask types but presumed refill ex-bourbon and ex-sherry possibly with some first-fill finishing casks in the mix. Non-chill filtered and natural colour.

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: Fresh & crisp, but certainly not as bright or as tropical as the modern younger 'laddies. Icing sugar, sweetened lemon, red apples and fresh flowers. Cooked spent grains / draff, and some orange zest, and a definite touch of sea salt. 

Texture: Medium weight. Lightly oily, fresh & warming. No heat at all. 

Taste: More cooked grains / draff, and a gentler sweetness than the nose suggested, more dried flowers and coffee crystals / demerara sugar here rather than the fresh flowers and icing sugar on the nose. Still a touch of salt and an added touch of dry wood spices.  

Finish: Short length. More citrus, lemon & lime in particular but I'd say they're both dried rather than fresh. Touch of that dry malty cereal grain as well. Sea salt, more dried flowers and a slight touch of vanilla.  

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: I'm guessing the spirit cuts were a little longer / wider back in those Whyte & Mackay days compared to the "new" regime. Coupled with more conventional casks than Bruichladdich tends to go for these days, plus I suspect some older casks in the mix, that would allow for much of the differences between this older bottling of the 10-year old and the contemporary younger equivalents from the laddie crew. There are still parallels though, which isn't surprising since they're mostly using the same equipment and they still have a similar ethos to that of the earlier days of the distillery's latest chance at life - and long may it continue. This is still a sweet, floral summer's day whisky with hints of the of the coastal Hebridean environment that it came from. It's very interesting to try a younger more spirit-driven Bruichladdich from this era instead of the older whiskies that were bottled around the same time, and it's easy to see why this whisky put the distillery back on the map for many. 

Bruichladdich Micro Provenance 11-year old, French Sweet wine cask, 60%. Islay, Scotland.

Single cask #1275, distilled 2007, bottled 2019. Fully matured in unspecified "Premium French Sweet Wine" cask, bottled for German bottle shop Weinquelle. 204 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Brass. 

Nose: Bigger & richer of course, but also much funkier and a little "dirty" & lactic. The sweet wine cask influence is obvious, with sweet stone fruit in syrup, and a touch of sweet almond pastry. But there's also a salty, cheesy lactic "funk"- think well-aged sharp cheddar cheese that has turned a little salty. 

Texture: Medium weight. Big & powerful, sweet and lightly astringent. Touch of heat, but it's a young whisky served up at 60% ABV so that comes with the territory.  

Taste: Syrupy sweet stone fruit - apricot & nectarine in syrup, plus botrytis-like sweet grapes. That's balanced by an earthiness and a little dunnage warehouse mustiness, plus some drying wood spice. Honey roasted nuts and that salty, sharp mature cheddar again. 

Finish: Long length. Spiced pears, more sweet almond pastry, and a little crumbly blue cheese adding a salty & funky edge. More sweet grape syrup and baked stone fruit. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: If a sweet Bruichladdich & a salty cheesy funky Kilkerran had a baby... And it works very nicely! This single cask has actually calmed down nicely since the initial opening. It was hot & uptight to begin with, then very sweet, then very funky & spicy. But now all of that has levelled out and the bigger picture is quite well balanced. Although it's still quite a sweet whisky as you'd expect. That earthiness is delicious, and combined with the saltiness and that cheesy lactic character it makes this quite the complex little number! I can't say I've had another Bruichladdich that is quite like this, in fact the Sauternes-finished Octomore 10.2 (reviewed here) probably comes closest, albeit with the added depth of light (yes, only light in that particular case) peatiness and without that dunnage funky-ness.

Overall Notes: Totally different, as expected. But this isn't a comparison, it's only a quick look at two opposite ends of the unpeated Bruichladdich spectrum. One young, spirit-driven old bottling, and one sweet, cask-driven but earthy & funky modern single cask. Both great. Oh, the sacrifices I have to make for these reviews... 

Cheers!