Like my previous review of the Octomore Farm 9-year old Octomore, this is a private cask bottling that was distilled at Bruichladdich. But while that Octomore came from James Brown's private stash, this one is a little different. This private cask belonged to "The Cask Whisperer", which was a nickname for the legendary Jim McEwan after he picked up a reputation for talking to maturing casks of whisky on a regular basis. Whisky warehouses can be cold, dank, almost spooky places, so I don't think we can blame him for a little anthropomorphism (there's your word of the day) during those long days on the shores of Loch Indaal. For those who aren't aware, Jim has worked in the whisky industry for over 55 years, and was a vital part of the team that resurrected Bruichladdich Distillery back in 2001. He officially left Bruichladdich in 2015 after the distillery's sale to Remy Cointreau, and technically retired, although he's since been heavily involved in the creation of Islay's latest addition and ninth operating distillery, Ardnahoe, and a few other consultancy roles since - including a gin distillery here in Australia. We should all be thankful that he hasn't disappeared altogether, and it's no surprise either, he still lives next door to the distillery!
It would seem that he had quite the stash of private casks slumbering away in those cold, dank warehouses on Islay, and the first release of "The Cask Whisperer" featured six single cask bottlings: two Bruichladdichs, two heavily peated Port Charlottes, and two super-heavily peated Octomores. As you might have guessed, wine & sherry casks feature heavily in these six bottlings, but none were merely finished in said casks, they were all fully matured, and all were first-fill casks, meaning they last held their previous contents and haven't previously been used for whisky maturation. And of course all were bottled at cask strength and without chill filtration or added colouring. I couldn't tell you why, but they were bottled and distributed by a Swiss liquor merchant by the name of Reto, proprietor of the Whisky Newmarkt shop in Zurich. All six bottlings were released in April 2019, and as you might expect they're extremely difficult to get a hold of if you're located outside of Europe. There's a glaring difference in the label details from what we've come to expect from recent Bruichladdich official bottlings - the wine varieties, and in some cases the wine makers themselves, are named right there on the labels in plain language. No need for any confusing acronyms, subtle hints or vague descriptions here!
This particular Cask Whisperer bottling is a nine-year old unpeated Bruichladdich that was fully matured in an Amarone Italian wine cask. Amarone is a dry red wine produced in the Valpolicella region of Verona in Northern Italy, roughly halfway between Milan and Venice. The word Amarone actually translates to "the great bitter" (amaro meaning bitter), and the grapes are traditionally air-dried for around four months before crushing, and are dry fermented for up to 50 days - meaning there are no residual sugars left in the wine. They're typically aged for a minimum of five years and usually in French oak, so we can assume that to be the case here. This single cask was distilled in 2009 and yielded 349 bottles at a cask strength of 51.9% in 2019, and while it sells for around $180 AUD from the aforementioned shop in Switzerland, that obviously excludes international shipping and local customs charges. I was lucky enough to grab a sample of this whisky from an Australian whisky lover who was residing in Switzerland at the time these bottlings were released, and it's very safe to say that I would never have seen one otherwise! Let's see how it goes...
The Cask Whisperer Bruichladdich 9-year old, 51.9%. Islay, Scotland.
Jim McEwan's private cask, distilled 2009, fully matured in a single Amarone wine cask, bottled 2019. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 349 bottles. Distributed by Whisky Neumarkt in Zurich.
Colour: Amber.
Nose: Interesting! A nice mix of mild 'laddie lactic sweetness & malty-ness and dry, sour wine and oak. Slightly yeasty, with musty & sour red grapes, a little tannin, and some dusty golden malt hiding behind it.
Texture: Medium weight, richly flavoured but dry overall. Very little heat.
Taste: Much less wine-forward here, with a nice toasty, malty sweetness, and a surprising touch of wood ash too - maybe due to cask charring? A bit of spice and wine tannin again as well, but they're subtle and quite pleasant - and I'm no wine lover by any means.
Finish: Medium length. Buttery & spicy oak, more light wine tannins. A little yeasty too, almost like a subtle Vegemite / yeast extract funky-ness that is very enjoyable. More musty red grapes and a bit of chilli flake spice to finish.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: A tasty dram, of course! It does remind me of some of the older Bruichladdich bottlings that I've tasted, particularly the WMD II Yellow Submarine, but there's more character and more balance in this private single cask bottling. In fact this Cask Whisperer is very well balanced, despite being fully-matured in a first-fill wine cask, with both cask & distillery character showing through at different times. That shouldn't be a surprise of course, we all know that Jim McEwan was and still is a true master of his craft, and he wouldn't release a sub-standard cask with his name printed on the label. It's an honour to taste one of the legend's private casks, and it's a great move of his to sell them on. There have been plenty of private casks and independent bottlings of Bruichladdich over the years, but none of them came from the distillery's master distiller himself!
If memory serves this is only the second Amarone cask single malt that I've tasted, and the first was a cask-finished Arran, so there's no comparison really. Nonetheless this one is very enjoyable, and I'm not a red wine fan by any means, so it's been very well done. Bravo as usual Jim, and thanks for all of your hard work over the last 55+ years!
Cheers!
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