A nine year old Bruichladdich could be on similar terms as the current releases from the proudly independent hebridean distillers. At a whopping 65.9% ABV (!!!) it should burn its way right through me and I expect to have to water it down a bit before the flavours are released.

Nose:
The first thing that surprises me is how gentle this whisky smells. No burning sensation in my nostrils or teary eyes at all. The scent is rather weak to begin with. I decided to let it breathy quite a bit before smelling again, about 20 minutes. Then you get some white cheese like ricotta and a rather medicinal scent. Not iodine, but more ether and other hospital odors. After a bit more time you start getting biscuits, coconut and vanilla, grass, wet straw and flower stems.

Taste:
VERY sharp. Hot, burning with heaps and heaps of fresh cut pepper. When this settles down a bit I got vanilla and the flower stems again. ether and the dairy flavour is here too. Seems like ‘A cheese board in surgery’ is rather well chosen.

Finish:
Here, all of a sudden, I get some light orchard fruits and white grapes. There’s some wood too. The sharpness is present for a little while. It’s sweet with barley sugar, but not many new flavours.

To be honest, there’s quite a bit happening, but it’s not very interesting. It’s a nice enough whisky but I’m not overly thrilled by it and I think the alcohol isn’t doing it any favors. For some reason I felt like watering down would quickly kill it (after nosting and tasting) since the flavours are never very pronounced and I let it air for about half an hour. Not my style,  I think.

Fun fact: I almost killed the distillery dog when I was there. It was trying to bite my tires while I was still parking.

Bruichladdich 9, 11-2001, SMWS, ‘A cheeseboard in surgery’, 65.9%, Refill Barrel, available at the SMWS for € 72.