Origin: Isle of Islay (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 50%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-bourbon first fill, ex-Sherry and ex-Wine
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Bruichladdich (Rèmy Cointreau)
Average price: € 100.00
Official website: www.bruichladdich.com
Vote: 88/100
After the organic one, here is the Exploration Series bottling dedicated to local barley, sourced from eight fields within an eleven-mile radius of the distillery. As always, Bruichladdich shares all the information about the provenance of its product, about which we therefore know practically everything: the quality of the barley is Concerto and Propino, distilled in 2014 and matured for eight years in first-fill ex-bourbon casks (80%), second-fill ex-sherry butts (5%) and second-fill ex-wine casks (15%).
There is also a list of contributing farms, but this may be of less interest to the drinker…
Tasting notes
On the nose it is undoubtedly the cereal that takes the lead, with a base of digestive biscuit on which are grafted notes of hay, toffee, fruit (raw and cooked apple, pear, ripe banana, apricot, coconut), vanilla, honey and a vein of buttermilk. Touch of spices (black pepper, cinnamon), an inflection of sweet liquorice and, deep down, wet flint. Fresh and appetising.
The freshness is confirmed on the palate, where the vegetal and cereal part loses a little ground (while remaining clearly evident) in favour of the fruity and spicy notes, which in a good creaminess find components of red fruits (raspberries, currants), yellow fruits (apple, banana, apricot, a hint of peach), lemon drop, anise, cumin, black pepper, juniper, liquorice (more root than sweet). Sesame breadsticks with salt crystals and church wafer. Crisp, at times with reminiscences of a gin.
Quite long and dry finish of spices, liquorice, yellow fruit, coconut, cereals, vegetable notes, nuts and salt.
A multifaceted and multi-coloured whisky, in which the essence of the raw material takes centre stage and dominates the dram, harmonising with the influence of the casks chosen (I imagine) precisely so as not to be too strong. So agricultural that at moments it almost seems to lose its whisky way, but the richness of the experience is undeniable.