Bruichladdich has roots courting again to 1881, however the fashionable incarnation of the Islay-based distillery started in 2001, when wine and spirits service provider Mark Reynier and Grasp Distiller Jim McEwan resurrected the operation following its 1993 shuttering.
Over the following years, the enterprising model supplemented the unpeated Bruichladdich label with peated Port Charlotte and extra-peated Octomore, which holds the title of the world’s most closely peated single malt. The distillery got down to be pioneers, provocateurs, and alter makers, they usually haven’t strayed from that ethos.
Grasp Distiller Adam Hannett took the reins from McEwan in 2015. Born and raised on Islay, he’s been working at Bruichladdich for 18 years, and it’s his job to make the core expressions whereas persevering with to push the envelope. These efforts are evident in latest releases, together with the brand new Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2013 and the just-released Octomore 13.
Bruichladdich Islay Barley showcases the island’s grain, and the 2013 launch is the eighth version of the unpeated, domestically grown single malt. Its label is an efficient learn, with a map, the names of the seven farms that grew the crops, and an eight-year age assertion noting the maturation vessels—a mixture of ex-American and ex-European oak casks. For Hannett, sharing these particulars is core to the distillery’s DNA.
“We’re not speaking about bagpipes and tartan,” says Hannett. ‘The story we inform is the story of the whisky. And the least we are able to do is be as sincere and as clear as we are able to.”
Making a whisky with native grain isn’t a brand new observe, however on the tiny island of Islay, it means resigning the spirit to a comparatively small launch. For those who’re capable of rating a bottle, you’ll discover a brilliant and full of life dram, with notes of lemon, honey, vanilla, and oak spice, all tied up in a bow of gentle island salinity.
Octomore falls on the other finish of the spectrum. This annual launch is all the time matured for 5 years, super-heavily peated, and bottled near cask energy. Initially launched in 2008, the road was created partly to indicate how good a younger whisky could be when it’s handled proper. It’s usually known as “the unimaginable equation” as a result of the whiskies simply shouldn’t work: they’re too younger, too smoky, too sturdy. It’s now in its thirteenth version.
Octomore is launched as a collection, so that you’ll must parse some decimal factors. Octomore 13.1 is matured in American oak casks, Octomore 13.2 is aged totally in Oloroso sherry butts, and Octomore 13.3 is comprised of 100% Islay barley and aged in a mixture of first-fill American oak and second-fill European oak. Every expression falls between 129 and 137 PPM, a measurement denoting its very excessive peat degree. For reference, different “closely peated” scotch whiskies may fall between 30 to 40 PPM.
Throughout a latest assembly with Hannett, he additionally confirmed off the brand new Black Artwork 10, which will probably be launched on November 1. The mysterious dram is the one whisky within the Bruichladdich portfolio that’s purposely opaque. Aside from a 29-year age assertion, its make-up is a complete secret.
“The chance is there to take action a lot,” says Hannett. “Quite than do the identical factor annually, we now have the liberty to discover.”
The Black Artwork 10’s nostril appears to go on ceaselessly, with a deep and darkish character. After I get misplaced within the aromas, Hannett affords some encouragement: “You nearly don’t must drink it—however you must.”
