Origin: Isle of Islay (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 50%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Bruichladdich (Rèmy Cointreau)
Average price: € 210.00
Official website: www.bruichladdich.com
Vote: 92/100
After the last ‘London’ review, I return to Scotland, on the run and back to the island of Islay.
This time the chosen one is the Bruichladdich distillery with this particular single cask, created especially for food critic Martine Nouet, with 214 bottles from a first-fill ex-bourbon cask (the 270).
Martine Nouet contributed to the creation of the magazine Whisky France, writing several books on the subject, and in April 2012 she was the first Frenchwoman to be elevated to the rank of ‘Keepers of the Quaich’.
In 2010 she decided to live in Scotland, in a cottage near Port Charlotte, but recently chose to return to France .
But now let’s go and taste this golden-coloured whisky straight away.
Tasting notes
On the nose, a hint of yellow fruit such as peach, apricot, pineapple and honey immediately leaps out, followed by a citrus note such as lemon peel. But the special thing about this whisky is that it makes you feel like you are on an Islay beach, because the hints of peat, seaweed, sea spray and beach bonfire are really intense.
On the palate, the peat is perfectly balanced, here too the sea is not missing with hints of seaweed, oyster, sea urchin, brackish water and peat smoke, continuing with spicy notes of nutmeg, ginger and black pepper.
The finish is long and intense with peat smoke, seaweed, brackish water and to close, spicy hints of black pepper and ginger.
In conclusion, this peated malt really impressed me, reminding me of all the scents I smelled in the area where I was born and where I lived for 30 years, and although it was not Scotland the sea was everywhere.
It is a truly unique single cask, which immediately wins you over as soon as you put your nose to it, being pervaded by a very pleasant sensation.
It is perfectly suited to fish or even better shellfish dinners.