Much has been said of Bruichladdich's rescue at the hands of Mark Reynier, Simon Coughlin and Jim McEwan (and others) back in 2001, who resuscitated the distillery after a six-year sleep. Plenty of equipment & building repairs were required following the neglect that the site had suffered at the hands of it's previous owners over that time, but there's now no doubt that it was all worth it. The distillery is unquestionably a powerhouse these days, and thanks to the recent purchase by Remy Cointreau there's no sign of that changing in the future. In fact the new owners are investing in expansion, and I get the feeling that the new backing will allow the distillery to move forward on plenty of projects that have been in the pipeline or on the sideline for a long time. Case in point is the recent announcement that Bruichladdich now has its own farm set aside for growing their own barley on Islay, meaning that once the planned floor maltings are built they'll be the second Islay distillery to grow, malt and mill their own barley, and then mash, ferment, distill, mature and bottle their spirit on-site. Very exciting times ahead!
I've only tried a couple of the un-peated Bruichladdich bottlings from this earlier era (not including the peated Port Charlotte and super-heavily peated Octomore), and they are few and far between these days. The older bottlings that are currently available such as the Black Art series were all distilled prior to the 1995 closure, and are understandably getting very expensive now. On the other hand the contemporary young Bruichladdich whiskies are of consistently excellent quality, and are essentially what the distillery is now known for. Bright, fresh, and delicious un-peated malt-forward drams with loads of character and loads of maturity for their age. The earlier young bottlings were a little different in style, and were arguably less focused on barley and - in 'laddie speak - "uber-provenance" than they currently are, and in my admittedly limited experience they were also less consistent. But the living legend Jim McEwan of course was - and still is - a master of his craft, and without his input Bruichladdich would have been very different to what it is today. So getting the chance to try any of his early work at Bruichladdich is always very special!
The expression that we're looking at today, 'Rocks', was part of a series of three bottlings that were inspired by the distillery's surroundings. The other two in the series were 'Waves', referring to Loch Indaal over the road from the distillery and the Atlantic Ocean that feeds it, and 'Peat', which shouldn't need any further explanation! What's more interesting here is that all three of these releases were peated, and peated to different levels, and as you'd expect Waves and Rocks were only very lightly peated. Waves was finished (ACE'd, in 'laddie speak) in Madeira casks, Peat was fully-matured in bourbon casks but was a mix of Bruichladdich, Port Charlotte and Octomore spirit, and Rocks was finished in French Syrah red wine casks. Rocks was the least peated of the three, and was also the last to be discontinued back in 2013. The name of this expression refers to the Rhinns of Islay, the rocky area on the western side of the island that is home to the distillery and it's water source. Rocks is an NAS vatting of 6-9 year old casks, married together and finished in those Syrah casks for around 9 months, and is bottled at 46% ABV which was then the standard bottling strength (it's now 50%). Since it's a Bruichladdich it is of course non-chill filtered and naturally coloured. There are a few murmurings on the 'net that this single malt was designed to be served on the rocks (with ice), but I can't find anything official on that anywhere, nor on the packaging, so I don't think that's the case. Either way, just neat for me thanks!
Very lightly peated, vatting of 6-9 year old ex-bourbon casks finished in Syrah red wine casks for around 9 months. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.
Colour: Gold.
Nose: Fresh, fruity & peppery, not as bright, sweet or clean as more modern Bruichladdichs, but that could be down to those wine casks doing their thing. It has a little yeasty funk to it as well, not the usual 'laddie lactic note. Light wine tannins, acidic pear drops, and a mild red grape must. A nice sweet vanilla bean paste and some fresh lemon juice coming through with more time.
Texture: Medium weight, lightly astringent & drying, a touch of peppery heat on entry but pleasant.
Taste: Peppery wine tannins, a little semi-sweet honey & citrus, dry mild chilli spice, like Szechuan peppercorns. More of that yeasty funk which is different but enjoyable. Light salty tang as well, reminds me of iodised table salt.
Finish: Medium length. Those spicy dry peppercorns follow through but the fruit then takes over, a nice mix of green / under-ripe tropical fruit, those acidic pear drops and that red grape must. The salt comes through again too but with more power, like a salt lick, which turns to a drying & lightly astringent minerality as it tapers off.
Score: 3 out of 5.
Notes: Interesting stuff! An enjoyable dram that reminds me a little of the old WMD II 'yellow submarine' bottling that I first tried a while ago. It's more musty and funky than we now think of with Bruichladdich, but that wine cask finish, or ACE for Additional Cask Enhancement in 'laddie speak, is probably responsible for some of that difference. That's not a criticism by any means mind you, it's just different, which is never a bad thing!
Those wine casks have definitely had an effect, perhaps adding more complexity, but they haven't overtaken the spirit and it all works quite well together. That saltiness is very enjoyable too, in fact this is probably the saltiest Bruichladdich bottling that I've come across to date, and I like how it turns into an ozone-y minerality on the finish - definitely evoking the rocks & the Rhinns that the whisky was named after! If you're a 'laddie fan and you stumble across a bottle of this long-discontinued expression, it's definitely worth picking up for near its original price. But I wouldn't spend up big on a bottle of Rocks when the current range of young Bruichladdichs is just so damn good...
Cheers!
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