New Bruichladdich 18?

by **Sherried Malt** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 3:18 am

I see that the new Bruichladdich 18 is now available on Bruichladdich's website. Has anyone tried it yet? What's it like and how does it compare to the rest of their range?

Thanks!

by **Deactivated Member** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 3:37 am

Nick will be pleased to see that, after 18 years in bourbon barrels, the 18yo is ACEd (McEwan won't allow use of the word "finished") in Willi Opitz Zweigelt Trochen Beeren Auslese sweet, fruity, rare red pinot wine casks. £54.99. Stocks expected to last about two years.

by **Lawrence** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:22 am

I'm looking forward to trying it. has anybody tried the new 1984 "Redder Still"?

by **Spirit of Islay** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 8:05 am

Hi Sherried Malt / Lawrence ,
Tried the Redder Still at the festival , it was ok tho not a touch on the Blacker Still , tried the 18 at the distillery last week and did not buy a bottle .
The Palate and nose were ok but the wine had taken over the finish far too much for my liking . I don't know if it's just me but all of the current releases seem ACEd at the moment . Looks like i'll have to invest in some more XVII or 12yo 2nd edition to get my fix of pure Bourbon casked Laddie......

by **Lawrence** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 8:14 am

Thanks SOI, the other extremely good Bruichladdich at the moment is the batch of the 10 bottled in 2006. The 'missing link' whisky between Campbeltown and Islay, some of each in there.

by **Sherried Malt** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 3:22 pm

Thank you, Lawrence and SOI.

I know what you mean about the ACE treatment. I have the 15 YO 2nd Ed (Yquem casks) and served it to some friends last night. It was certainly a crowd pleaser and glad I have another in reserve... That said, I can't see having it every day. Maybe TOO creamy? I'd like a bit more complexity and bite...

It's off to find the XVII, 12 and 10 then!

by **vitara7** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:05 pm

good luck with the search for the 17yo, ive not seen one in ages....

by **Drrich1965** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 8:30 pm

vitara7 wrote:good luck with the search for the 17yo, ive not seen one in ages....

http://www.binnys.com

Bruichladdich XVII

750ML $109.99/btl $626.94/case

by **vitara7** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:08 pm

so its still in usa then, ive not seen it anywhere in UK for ages now. i did have a bottle ready for opening at some point when others got drunk, but not sure whether to crack it open due to that.

by **Spirit of Islay** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:21 pm

LFW still has it .......

by **vitara7** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:28 pm

ill need to give RJ a wee tinkle then, cheers SOI

by **Deactivated Member** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:26 am

Sherried Malt wrote:Thank you, Lawrence and SOI.

I know what you mean about the ACE treatment. I have the 15 YO 2nd Ed (Yquem casks) and served it to some friends last night. It was certainly a crowd pleaser and glad I have another in reserve... That said, I can't see having it every day. Maybe TOO creamy? I'd like a bit more complexity and bite...

It's off to find the XVII, 12 and 10 then!

Let's be honest. Bruichladdich have a lot of old stock that would have gone to the blenders under the old regime. Since they no longer have blending contracts, there is nothing for them to do but bottle the stuff. All the ACEing, it seems to me, is an attempt to make something interesting out of something that maybe isn't so interesting. (I wonder what Mr McEwan would make of that conclusion?) Some will call it putting lipstick on a pig. Others might say it's flavored whisky (I nicked that from another member). I say if the result is drinkable and interesting, then good for them. If it's not anyone's particular thing, that's fair enough. The same can be said of peaty whisky, sherried whisky, cask-strength whisky, or even whisky generally.

by **hpulley** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:26 pm

They are certainly not short of stocks:

I went to Islay with full intentions of hiding all of Jim's wine casks or at least asking him about them but I couldn't find the casks

and only met him briefly and was too glad of the chance to taste PC6 to ask him why it had to spend a year in madeira and you know what??? It's good! So I don't really care. The 18yo on the other hand I found the finish heavily influenced by wine but if other people like it, more power to them! With all the bottlings Bruichladdich makes these days there's bound to be something for everyone, which is savvy marketing these days.

Harry

by **Deactivated Member** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:13 pm

Cool photo, Harry. If that's the arch-roofed building at the back of the distillery, I slept within about thirty feet of all that stuff...just as well I didn't know!

by **The Dazzler** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:53 pm

I quite enjoyed the 18yo and never found it to be overwhelming with the wine influence. I found it to be a very well balanced whisky with a lot of sweetness and coastal notes on the nose and light, fruity, (pineapple) and butterscotch flavours with an excellent oakiness on the finish. Its big problem might be that it is just not a big rich heavy Islander which might be hoped for.

The Redder Still I am not a fan of, here the wine really takes charge and has a sour flavour which I could not get rid of. The aromas here are excellent however, really fruity, (bubble-gum) and with some coco and leather notes as well. Water helps the flavours but then destroys the aromas, one of those ones!!! The Blacker Still was a much better edition.

Slainte

by **hpulley** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:01 pm

MrTattieHeid wrote:Cool photo, Harry. If that's the arch-roofed building at the back of the distillery, I slept within about thirty feet of all that stuff...just as well I didn't know!

I believe that was it!

Some more pictures:

B&W again, slightly better angle:

In colour, half the film speed didn't fare quite as well:

Jim sensei with the PC6 in the bottling hall:

Everyone was joking around at the distillery and having a great time. No, the slide is NOT backwards in the scanner. This is the old still that they replaced shortly after taking ownership (with copper prices as high as they are I'm surprised they haven't recycled them but distilleries like to have them out front):

Harry

by **Ganga** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:32 pm

[quote="hpulley

Everyone was joking around at the distillery and having a great time. No, the slide is NOT backwards in the scanner. This is the old still that they replaced shortly after taking ownership (with copper prices as high as they are I'm surprised they haven't recycled them but distilleries like to have them out front):

Harry[/quote]

You are quite correct as all the letters are in the correct direction. Must have been Friday night when they assembled the barrels.

by **Sherried Malt** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 5:42 pm

Ganga wrote:

You are quite correct as all the letters are in the correct direction. Must have been Friday night when they assembled the barrels.

[/quote]

Hey, maybe the casks have letters on both ends and Jim intended for them to be viewed from the other side...

Hey, I'm just trying to help here!

by **hpulley** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:10 pm

That's the view from the front which is where the road and the loch are so I believe it is the intended viewing angle. I didn't actually check to see if there were letters on the other side...

Harry

by **Mr Fjeld** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:15 pm

You're all wrong of course! The reason for this strange way of arranging the letters is because Bruichladdich wish to be welcoming towards one of the largest emerging markets - the Chinese - who read it all backwards.......
:roll:

Looks like you had a great time at Islay Harry! Nice pictures too!

The Bruichladdich 18 (sorry for going off topic) looks exciting. Definately something I'll buy if it becomes available here.

by **Sherried Malt** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:45 pm

Mr Fjeld wrote:The Bruichladdich 18 (sorry for going off topic) looks exciting. Definately something I'll buy if it becomes available here.

Same here. And fwiw, the whisky specialist at my favorite shop believes the first edition of many Bruichladdichs are the best. I don't have any experience to say one way or another, other than the 1st Editon Twenty is much better than the 2nd...

by **hpulley** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:49 pm

I tried the 18yo at the place pictured above and even with that setting I much preferred the 12yo Second Edition which is absolutely excellent, showing that the 2nd editions can be very good too.

Harry

by **Sherried Malt** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:48 pm

hpulley wrote:I tried the 18yo at the place pictured above and even with that setting I much preferred the 12yo Second Edition which is absolutely excellent, showing that the 2nd editions can be very good too.

Harry

Thanks, Harry. That's good to know. I have the 2nd ed and always wondered what the first was like...

Thanks again. :thumbsup:

by **hpulley** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:18 pm

I have a mini of the 1st edition and will HTH them soon.

Harry

by **Deactivated Member** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 4:30 am

They were not ever thus. (2005)

by **hpulley** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:24 pm

I see the Wellingtons have been sticking out the top end for years though! I wasn't sure if they were a recent addition.

Harry

by **Sherried Malt** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:40 pm

hpulley wrote:

Harry

Harry, by any chance did you visit on April 1st? :wink:

by **hpulley** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:49 pm

No, anything funny about August 8th???

Harry

by **Sherried Malt** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 8:00 pm

hpulley wrote:No, anything funny about August 8th???

Harry

Well, the Scots ARE world-famous for their sense of humor...

by **Deactivated Member** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 4:37 am

It's the feast day of St Dominic, of course.

Had there been a silent period shortly before? Might be some personnel had not enough to do. They'd have made better use of their time posting here.

by **hpulley** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 1:00 pm

Actually it was silent that week so perhaps that was it though everyone looked quite busy even with no malt grinding or British Neutral Spirit flowing.

Harry