Black Bottle 10 Year Old

[triguy42]

Tasting notes for my bottle of 10yr BB 43%:

Nose: A bit of grain bite, malty, oaky and fairly light peatsmoke, nice gristy hint.

Taste: Oily and light entry with significant toffee'd malt, building peatsmoke but held back by oils, peppery coaltar smoke towards the end.

Finish: Fading peppery coaltar bite with late grain burn, still very oily. Ending fairly dry and greenish with odd aftertaste.

Balance: Fairly oily squashing complexity, decent but nothing special.

In my book I'd give it a 20/22/20/20 for a final 82 rating. Nothing spectacular because of the heavy oils squashing flavors. This bottling was the reason I went back to buying Laphroaig 10yr instead at approximately the same price.

[UUNetBill]

Where does it say 10yo Black Bottle is produced no more tenglish61 ?
Can't find anywhere that says it's discontinued (RMW , LFW) .
Shame if it is.......

My local shop (wine and spirits) no longer carries the BB 10 - the owner was at my house for a party last weekend and he told me that he can't get it anymore - and this guy can usually get his hands on some rare wines. I don't know if his ability with whisky is as good as it is with wine, but if he can't get it, I don't expect anyone in town to have it.

[Reggaeblues]

To me BB standard is the perfect base to which to add a few drops of your favourite Islay SM, especially the "big 3". I've added a few drops of Laphroaig 10 and QC to my dram, I've added Ardbeg 10, and even |Laga 16...it's amazing how the BB seems to take on the character of whatever you add of these particular singles...an economical way to drink Islay!

[talisker10]

Spec's here in Houston has ton of BB and BB 10. However, the McClelland's Islay I just had (a young Bowmore) is cheaper and very good..plus no taste of grain.

[tenglish61]

Re the untimely demise of the 10 yr old, when my local supplier could not secure the 10 yr old, I emailed the distributor, International Beverage in Atlanta for the status of the product. The told me that the blender had issues securing 10 yr old whiskies from Islay and as a result the particular expression had been discontinued. They did give me the address of several suppliers in my area where I was able to 'stock up' as it were in order to stay warm in the winter.

I then wrote to Black Bottle (its amazing the results you will get by clicking on the Contact Us button). They confirmed that they were not producing the expression anymore but they hope to introduce an upscale product in the future. When or what that will be I do not know.

In addition if you check their website you will see that, with the exception of their timeline, the 10 yr old is no longer mentioned.

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you folks.

Slanche!, Tom

[The Third Dram]

The black bottle... is peaty, but light and smooth at the same time.

An excellent 'anytime' pour. I'll also second the recommendation for Islay Mist (in my case, the superb 17YO issue). And if one is looking for a 'backdoor' approach to the smokier and more substantial style, Compass Box The Peat Monster is another one certainly worthy of consideration.