Old Bruichladdich can be hit or miss. As in, the distillery was highly inconsistent in the quality of its output spirit. Since the reopening in 2001 it still is but the spirit is far more consistent. The new inconsistency is in the use of all kinds of weird casks between 2005 and 2015-ish. It has gotten far more consistent over the last couple of years with more focus on bourbon and sherry casks with far less wine casks and other things mixed in.

Personally, I think that’s a good thing because the spirit works so very well with bourbon casks. However, I’ve had some older ones from before it closed down in the nineties that were really weird distillates that have some serious issues. Luckily, those are gone now and what is coming out now is older and has been taken care of. Also, the shit casks are probably gone by now, sold to blenders or just chucked out.j

Anyway, let’s see what Cadenhead’s made of this one. This one is from their single cask series, with the golden labels. I’m not sure if that still exists, since they seem to have moved to batches instead of single casks.

Sniff:
Flint and minerals. Slightly acidic, but not in a lemon or lime way. Cocoa powder, but otherwise I find it very hard to get many different scents. It’s lovely, but hard to pinpoint different aromas. A hint of low fat milk too.

Sip:
Reeds, green oak and green malt. After a few seconds there’s a lot of white pepper. A milky acidity again with a powdery dryness. Almond flour, tartaric acid.

Swallow:
The acidity continues in the finish, although the white oak becomes a bit more prominent. Tartaric acid powder again, with white pepper and sawdust.

More interesting than gorgeous. As it turns out to be Bruichladdich (we tried it blind), I get it a little bit. It’s the flipside of that Archives one that had somewhat comparable weirdness, but that one was far nicer. This isn’t one of the best casks out there, in my opinion, but it’s far removed from the worst ones too.

It currently is available for € 563 in Switzerland and I think you can do far better for that kind of money.

86/100