Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 700 ml

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Fruit salad and caramel, with a malted biscuit underpinning. Bright and apple saucy, the coastal hot air lingers around if you look for it. Pepper and spice from the big ABV is exhilarating, the addition of water opens up the sweetness and soft spices, adding more of a sandy cinnamon bun to the picture. It’s delicious stuff without being overly complex or demanding. The vatting, once complete, is bottled at 50% ABV without added coloring or chill filtration. The higher ABV helps those subtle notes pop, and as we know from Octomore, Bruichladdich spirit likes to be braced by a high alcohol percentage. Straightaway I’m sure most readers would notice benefits here not enjoyed by the majority of working people. B Corp has absolutely no impact on the flavour of your whisky, but it can impact on how warmly you feel about the brand. I had previously been a little withering about the green status of Bruichladdich and the speed of change to reach net-zero in comparison to some of the other distillers. However, going green is only one small aspect of what makes a company a force for good or a force for evil.

So what of the Bruichladdich range? Well after the “reawakening” in 2001, we saw lots of experimentation with cask finishes, wine casks, and multiple expressions which was all a bit bewildering. They carved themselves out as an experimental distillery under the watchful eye of Jim McEwan. Much of that experimental approach has been retained under head distiller Adam Hannett, however the range has settled into a more regular set of core expressions and slightly fewer limited editions. When I was working my way through the bottle I had of the Classic Laddie, it was always a surprise when I poured a dram how light in colour it was. Also surprising was how long the bottle seemed to last, because I couldn’t see how much was left in there. It felt like I was on the last dram forever, and as a result, when the final dribble left the bottle, it was quite the downer. This “mystery of it all” experience is a strange counterpoint to the sentiment of openness permeating through all of Bruichladdich’s stuff, and I do wonder if there’s a way for them to keep the overall aesthetic of the iconic aquamarine painted bottle but also reveal what's inside, to cater to us strangelings. Perhaps only dip half of it - the top half, if we’re choosing, then we could see the colour of the whisky, Bruichladdich could keep that pub-shelf-presence of the vivid blue-green, we could see how much we’ve got left in there and we could marvel at the continued modern excellence of Bruichladdich. If this does happen, by the way, then I’m taking all credit and I’ll have the lifetime's supply of Classic Laddie shipped to my Barbados holiday pad, please and thank you. Stays fairly consistent regardless of water. Long and oaky, a little bitter along with some residual malt. Finish: Medium long. Delicately sweet, with only a balancing spot of charcoal bitterness. Evolves through light fruits – dried – nondescript florals, and then fades with a note that I can only describe as peach gummy rings.Despite the transparency of cask make up the only the youngest of those ages is legally allowed to be identified according to the SWA regulations. In this case the youngest component makes up roughly 46% of the total number of casks. 2011 making the youngest component about 8 years old, in line with similar distilleries NAS output. Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie Scottish Barley – Review

Aroma has a warm, fruity, malty profile with a strong layer of decadent dessert/pastry notes that lend some buttercream frosting characteristics making it a a loverly fun aroma; Palate comes through similarly to the aroma but with more apples and more depth to the malty notes; Finish is warm and fruity fading to oaky char. Governance: code of ethics; financial information disclosure; whistle-blower policy; mission and engagement Unlike our neighbouring distilleries from the island of Islay, our Bruichladdich range is made without peat. Without the influence of smoke, we expose the brilliance of our raw ingredient – barley. Stepping further outside of whisky tradition, we have traced ingredients from origin to bottling, embracing every growing season, the subtlety of changing barley varietals and the methods applied in growing them. Bruichladdich have other offerings available, from travel retail specials to the hugely expensive Dark Arts range or Rare Cask bottlings. However the distillery also offers other “brands” within the Bruichladdich umbrella (also available in their shop, FYI) - Port Charlotte is the peated side of the business and features a number of different expressions in the range, from the respected PS10 through to their MC, OLC and PAC acronymed, uniquely casked alternatives. Octomore is their insanely peated range of whisky, currently the most peaty of all peaty whiskies in the world, and has a sliding scale of peat perspiration to choose from. The slogan is ”Explore or Expire”, which should give you enough insight into the Octomore’s position in the whisky experience - have your wits about you.

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Very tasty, easy and full of pleasant notes that slowly open and unfold. It gets more honied as it opens and with some water the malty notes grow but that sweetness always stays heavy and pleasant. My favorite thing about this particular bottling though are the waxy lemon notes that slowly arise and help build the warm fruity profile that under pins everything from aroma to finish. Producing the Classic Laddie is among the most intricate and demanding tasks entrusted to their Head Distiller, Adam Hannett. He personally selects an assembly of the finest spirits to achieve the signature fruity and floral Bruichladdich house style. Malted bread. Vanilla sun cream, pencil shavings and a coastal hot-sand note. Bright apples and maybe even a pear lurking. It’s a powerful nosing experience and quite hard to separate out the individual flavour components, but the overall sentiment is that of fresh, sunny bright summer. There’s a little hint of agriculture here too, like the beach is a mile or so from a working farm and you catch that sharp scent on the wind. Or maybe even just a dot of creme fraiche in there - a zingy but creamy component. Quite evocative.

Palate: Viscous but not quite syrupy body. A moderate tongue burn – consistent with 50% ABV – is followed by unctuous dripping honey, peach jelly, buttered scones, and more golden raisins. On subsequent tastes, the red wine elements are a little clearer – redder fruits and jammy port wine. Very tasty. Hopefully this summary helps persuade you that we whisky drinkers are in the privileged position not only to enjoy this expensive spirit, but also having the option to make ethical purchasing decisions. We can avoid the companies that are failing to improve the world around them, failing to look after their employees or local community, and instead support those striving to make a difference. Nc’Nean is the only other single malt distillery currently holding the B Corp status. A slight health warning: Brewdog also hold B Corp status despite multiple exposés on the treatment of employees and the management culture at the brewer.

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Bruichladdich talk of a 20-year journey to become a company worthy of certification, which certainly puts the efforts to get this far into in context. It’s also clear that there is a significant commitment to the resources to monitor all the work being done, to ensure that year on year performance is achieved and there is evidence to prove it. It’s an interesting choice, for a distillery borne from transparency, to make this bottle completely opaque. A style choice, of that there’s no doubt, but I would have liked to have seen the whisky, because… I like to see whisky. Bruichladdich uses clear bottles for other variants, like their Bere Barley, Islay Barley and travel special Laddie 8, but not this. Instead we are greeted with solid matte aquamarine glass, bold white printing and silvery foils. It’s really smart and I love the colour - it’s my favourite out of all the colours available in the visible spectrum. The whisky, once poured, is bright, white-wine-light and it’s an indication, or rather a statement of intent, of what this whisky is going to taste like. The presentation, as a whole then, feels fresh, bright and modern. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. Recently I was invited to take part in a marketing campaign for Bruichladdich’s Octomore 11 series, which went well enough that Bruichladdich asked me to work on the sequel: A discussion of Bruichladdich’s Transparency Campaign “No Hidden Measures”. While that piece of work was sponsored, the following blog post was not, and although I received the review bottle for free (perks!) my review below is my own and was not influenced by (or published in) the campaign. The credibility of any reviewer is besmirched when they take industry money, but we can’t all be pure as the driven snow like Ralfy, so I leave it up to my readers to decide if my words are trustworthy or not. (Please don’t leave me…)

Bruichladdich (pronounced like ‘brookladdie’), is a distillery doing things differently. Based on Islay, a southern island of the Inner Hebrides, they are the first company of their kind in Europe to become a ‘BCorp’. What does that mean? Well, without getting into the nitty gritty, Bruichladdich meet an incredibly high standard of social and environmental performance. They’re a progressive, forward-thinking company with a focus on the world around them as much as their liquid. Composing each unique recipe is a rigorous process. Adam must systematically sample and evaluate every spirit by nose, taste and mouthfeel. The annual report is lengthy reading and that is largely due to the sheer breadth of the areas in which Bruichladdich is actively aiming to improve. These areas extend from agriculture and biodiversity to making hand sanitiser during the initial covid crisis. We bottle our Classic Laddie at 50% alcohol by volume as opposed to the average of 40-46%. The flavour of our spirit at 50% ABV is barley forward, meaning you taste more of the Scottish malt we have worked hard to trace. We will not stretch our spirit and compromise on quality for the sake of profit. How has Bruichladdich embraced the change? First certified in May 2020, notable aspects of the business that helped them qualify included commitments to their workers that included:It’s a bit of a task, albeit an enjoyable one, to dig through the layers, because they’re all really quite deep and full of rich nuggets. From the rudiments, like finding out that there’s regions in Scotch whisky and the differences between blends and single malts, you uncover cask types, distilling processes, malt preparations, cask finishes and what all those things actually mean. The deeper you go, the more there is to learn and before you know it, you’re asking questions about what the still shape does to the characteristic of a new-make spirit. As each thud of the spade hits the soil, you are sure in your mind that you’ll soon hit more nuggets, because there’s just so much rich whisky history to discover. For a long time I managed to dig around the peaty layer, because I foolishly thought it would be awful; tearing the fragile grip I finally had on whisky after all these years of wanting to love it. I also thought drinking smoke sounded shite. With some water added its actually quite enjoyable. The acidity calms down and becomes citrus fruit, pineapple juice and green apple. There's an underlying sweetness and a floral note though I couldn't identify it if I tried. There's just a touch of vanilla as well.