Welcome to the world of Progressive Hebridean Distillers... That is what they say on the website, and it is the world I grow to love more and more... Bruichladdich, a great place to visit and a great spirit... 
Bruichladdich and The Whisky Wire held on the 2nd of October a very beautiful Twitter tasting for which Bruichladdich generously provided us with 4 great drams.
The very generous samples of what they provided were labeled dram one to dram four. They told us that is was from their new line and so providing us with one from each of their three brands, being an unpeated Bruichladdich, a heavily peated Port Charlotte and a super-heavily peated Octomore. And a mystery fourth dram....
So we knew where we were getting in to, but also not really, due to the bottles labeled blind. A fun twist to the tasting, nice!! Love the challenge to try to find what is what...
Due to my mother getting bypass surgery on the day of the tasting in the end we notified Steve Rush and Carl Reavey that we would be sampling a bit earlier, so when not in the opportunity to fully do the tasting on Twitter, we could quickly post some notes during the tasting. Sort of a backup plan. Thanks guys for being so understanding here, not something we planned before, and would have wished it in an other way to happen... Were so looking forward to this one for a while...
So not knowing how and what our planning was going to be the night of the tasting we tasted in the days before, and oh boy, were we in for a treat! The hard thing was not to say anything online about it until the tasting. What a beauty's!
Making the notes, and guessing what would be what, we came up with the guess that the bottles could be:
Dram one - Scottish Barley
Dram two - Islay Barley
Dram three - Port Charlotte - Scottish Barley
Dram Four - Octomore 06.1- Scottish Barley
Shall we see what we think of the drams and if we were correct?
Dram one
Nose is full, very full. Citrus, fruits, sweet, raisin, pineapple, peach, vanilla, fresh, almonds, lemon, candy, floral, fudge honey, tropical, milk chocolate, grapes, mint, cereal, bit salty and spice. On the palate honey, warm, sweet, fruit, tropical tones, cacao, chocolate, cream, fudge, lemon, orange, mint, melon, soft stone fruits, vanilla, and raisin. My nose and palate are going in all directions, wow! Quite a depth in this one! It has a sweet, medium long finish, with a bit of almond and honey. Like a rich apple pie with cream or a rich fruit bowl. Love this one! Gave it a 7,5 out of 10.
Dram two
Nose filled with a combination of grain, buttery, citrus, and grass. A bit salty, vanilla, wood, floral, nuts, orange, marmalade, pepper and barley. Fresh and sweet. The palate gave me an oily tone, with pepper, citrus, vanilla and raisin. Warm and filled with fruits and anice. Honey, banana, toffee, pear, cane sugar, chocolate, coconut and apple. Beautiful tones, with a medium length finish. Just a bit dry on the finish, due to the coconut and maybe some nuts. Bit cinnamon combined with honey and some liqeurish. Gave this one a 7,5 out of 10
Dram three
A sweet nose, with chocolate, fruit, honey, vanilla, marzipan, raisins, prunes, vigs, melon, mint and a light smoke. On the palate again a light smoke flavours, red fruits, honey, nuts, warm, citrus, orange, vanilla, sweet, caramel, cinnamon, grapefruit, cacao and eucalyptus. Found this one a bit difficult, hard to get to the bottom. It has a sweet, warm, honeyed, long finish. It is beautiful, and has more depth in it, but I have to come back to this one. I gave this one a 7,5 out of 10, just a beauty! My senses blocked a bit during the tasting of this one, but will come back to it later. For that moment I just sat back and enjoyed this beauty...
Dram four
At first there is smoke and fruit. A sweet mix of flavours, fruits, vanilla, raisin and fudge. Dark fruits, cherry, raspberry, tropical fruit, berry's, creamy, warm, spice, cinnamon and pepper.... Jumm! Feeling of sitting beside a warm fire with this one together with friends and just having fun and sharing a dram. The palate gave me a mix of fudge, dark chocolate, warm, cherry, fruits and berry's... Also a combination of smoke and salty butter, with heather honey, raisin, lemon, caramel, and just more and more and more. It keeps coming. Every sip I take I taste more and more... The finish is long, and sweet. The flavours are complex and deep. Gave this one a 9 out of 10. This due to the complexity and depth in this one, wow!
Wow! What a feist! And guessed them all :-) Thanks Bruichladdich for taking us back to beautiful Islay for a moment and setting us in a turquoise frame of mind...
Slainte!!
p.s. want to see the whole tasting online? Please look on Twitter under hashtag #LaddieTT2 for all of it.... :-)
The very generous samples of what they provided were labeled dram one to dram four. They told us that is was from their new line and so providing us with one from each of their three brands, being an unpeated Bruichladdich, a heavily peated Port Charlotte and a super-heavily peated Octomore. And a mystery fourth dram....
So we knew where we were getting in to, but also not really, due to the bottles labeled blind. A fun twist to the tasting, nice!! Love the challenge to try to find what is what...
Due to my mother getting bypass surgery on the day of the tasting in the end we notified Steve Rush and Carl Reavey that we would be sampling a bit earlier, so when not in the opportunity to fully do the tasting on Twitter, we could quickly post some notes during the tasting. Sort of a backup plan. Thanks guys for being so understanding here, not something we planned before, and would have wished it in an other way to happen... Were so looking forward to this one for a while...
So not knowing how and what our planning was going to be the night of the tasting we tasted in the days before, and oh boy, were we in for a treat! The hard thing was not to say anything online about it until the tasting. What a beauty's!
Making the notes, and guessing what would be what, we came up with the guess that the bottles could be:
Dram one - Scottish Barley
Dram two - Islay Barley
Dram three - Port Charlotte - Scottish Barley
Dram Four - Octomore 06.1- Scottish Barley
Shall we see what we think of the drams and if we were correct?
Nose is full, very full. Citrus, fruits, sweet, raisin, pineapple, peach, vanilla, fresh, almonds, lemon, candy, floral, fudge honey, tropical, milk chocolate, grapes, mint, cereal, bit salty and spice. On the palate honey, warm, sweet, fruit, tropical tones, cacao, chocolate, cream, fudge, lemon, orange, mint, melon, soft stone fruits, vanilla, and raisin. My nose and palate are going in all directions, wow! Quite a depth in this one! It has a sweet, medium long finish, with a bit of almond and honey. Like a rich apple pie with cream or a rich fruit bowl. Love this one! Gave it a 7,5 out of 10.
Nose filled with a combination of grain, buttery, citrus, and grass. A bit salty, vanilla, wood, floral, nuts, orange, marmalade, pepper and barley. Fresh and sweet. The palate gave me an oily tone, with pepper, citrus, vanilla and raisin. Warm and filled with fruits and anice. Honey, banana, toffee, pear, cane sugar, chocolate, coconut and apple. Beautiful tones, with a medium length finish. Just a bit dry on the finish, due to the coconut and maybe some nuts. Bit cinnamon combined with honey and some liqeurish. Gave this one a 7,5 out of 10
A sweet nose, with chocolate, fruit, honey, vanilla, marzipan, raisins, prunes, vigs, melon, mint and a light smoke. On the palate again a light smoke flavours, red fruits, honey, nuts, warm, citrus, orange, vanilla, sweet, caramel, cinnamon, grapefruit, cacao and eucalyptus. Found this one a bit difficult, hard to get to the bottom. It has a sweet, warm, honeyed, long finish. It is beautiful, and has more depth in it, but I have to come back to this one. I gave this one a 7,5 out of 10, just a beauty! My senses blocked a bit during the tasting of this one, but will come back to it later. For that moment I just sat back and enjoyed this beauty...
At first there is smoke and fruit. A sweet mix of flavours, fruits, vanilla, raisin and fudge. Dark fruits, cherry, raspberry, tropical fruit, berry's, creamy, warm, spice, cinnamon and pepper.... Jumm! Feeling of sitting beside a warm fire with this one together with friends and just having fun and sharing a dram. The palate gave me a mix of fudge, dark chocolate, warm, cherry, fruits and berry's... Also a combination of smoke and salty butter, with heather honey, raisin, lemon, caramel, and just more and more and more. It keeps coming. Every sip I take I taste more and more... The finish is long, and sweet. The flavours are complex and deep. Gave this one a 9 out of 10. This due to the complexity and depth in this one, wow!
Wow! What a feist! And guessed them all :-) Thanks Bruichladdich for taking us back to beautiful Islay for a moment and setting us in a turquoise frame of mind...
Slainte!!
p.s. want to see the whole tasting online? Please look on Twitter under hashtag #LaddieTT2 for all of it.... :-)
Thanks Ansgar, glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeletewe surely did! have a good night! thanks again for the generous samples!
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