Bruichladdich was a product of the Victorian Scotch whisky boom, being constructed in 1881 by the Harvey family of Glasgow, who also owned Dundashill and Yoker distilleries in their home city. The Harveys remained major shareholders in Bruichladdich until it fell silent in 1929. Subsequently reopened in 1936, Bruichladdich was acquired two years later by Joseph Hobbs and associates. Following a number of further changes in ownership, Bruichladdich was bought by Invergordon Distillers in 1968, and a second pair of stills was installed seven years later.
After Whyte & Mackay took over Invergordon in 1993, Bruichladdich, along with Tamnavulin and Tullibardine was closed down. Bruichladdich worked briefly for a few months in 1998, but then returned to mothballs, before being purchased in 2000 by the independent bottler Murray McDavid for £6.5 million.
Under the new regime, headed by Mark Reynier and highly experienced and charismatic master distiller Jim McEwan, Bruichladdich gained a reputation as something of a 'maverick' distillery, never afraid to experiment and push the whisky envelope, while at the same time being passionate about integrity and provenance. The release programme was prolific, to say the least, and triple and even quadruple-distilled spirit was produced. In 2003 the only bottling line on Islay was installed at the distillery.
The first distillation when Bruichladdich reopened was on 29 May 2001, and comprised heavily peated spirit, christened Port Charlotte, and on 23 October of the following year the world's most heavily peated single malt (80ppm) was distilled, subsequently being given the name Octomore.
Along with unpeated Bruichladdich, Port Charlotte and Octomore became the core bottlings, with Scottish Barley and Islay Barley ultimately emerging as the principal expressions of each.
Then in 2012 Bruichladdich lost its much-prized independent status when being acquired by French drinks company Remy Cointreau for £58 million. As content creation manager Carl Reavey explains, "Bruichladdich success had been built on a set of principles, principles that we consider inviolable. We make Scotch whisky from Scottish barley. It is Islay whisky, matured for all of its life on Islay and nowhere else. Ever. We make it by hand using ancient Victorian equipment. It is bottled on Islay, using Islay spring water (where water is needed) and we never add caramel or chill filter.
"This is our ethos. We believe this stuff - it is our DNA. These are not marketing gimmicks to be wheeled out piecemeal to bolster individual expressions as some corporate brand office demands. From these cold dead hands will you prise them."
According to Reavey, the Bruichladdich team waited for the 'bean counters' to arrive from France, and one of their first requests was to double production of spirit. "We told them that this was impossible because our ancient equipment was knackered," he recalls. "The old open-topped cast iron mash tun in particular was worn out. Done. "
"The easy way to solve this would have been to move the Bruichladdich production process into the 20th (!) Century and take the old mash tun out and replace it with a modern lauter system. Twice the speed. Far more efficient. Much easier to operate. Less skilled labour. Cheaper. We said no. The mash tun is more than just symbolic. To change it would be to change Bruichladdich. The response was OK - rebuild it then."
This served to reassure the Bruichladdich die-hards that the new regime might not be something
to fear after all. After the mash tun rebuild, production was increased, though not as far as the 1.5mla requested by Remy Cointreau.
Increased production inevitably led to the need for more warehousing, and rather than suggest maturing spirit on the mainland in order to save money, the Remy team authorised the phased construction of a series of large-scale racked warehouses on the island.
Under the new owners, sales of Bruichladdich have grown to the point where the popular Laddie Ten and the 16 and 22 Years Old variants are only available from the distillery. Meanwhile the NAS Classic Laddie now boasts bottle codes which can be tracked on the distillery website to reveal the precise recipe of each batch, in an attempt to demonstrate to consumers that NAS expressions are not necessarily inferior to those bearing age statements.
Meanwhile, the man charged with stepping into master distiller Jim McEwan's large shoes is Adam Hannett, who previously understudied the great man before his retirement last summer.
"Octomore 07.4 Virgin Oak was my very first release. It was Jim's idea to do it, but I actually made it. I've also done Port Charlotte 2007 CC.01 in Cognac casks. We just filled them and laid them down to see what would happen. We didn't even necessarily have it in mind for release until we saw how well it turned out."
Sampling the Spirit
Bruichladdich 2009 Islay Barley, 50% ABV
Nose: Spicy malt, then melon and ripe mango. A hint of warm tweed.
Palate: Viscous and full. Big, warming spice notes over cereal and orchard fruits.
Finish: Chilli heat, drying through cocoa powder.
Port Charlotte 2007 CC.01, 57.8% ABV
(Matured in Cognac casks, Travel Retail exclusive)
Nose: Smoky bacon crisps, a medicinal hint and very slight rubber, then developing dried apple, honey and hay.
Palate: Earthy peat, a punch of alcohol, bacon, salt and mild medicinal notes, lime and ginger.
Finish: Big spice notes, with cloves and nutmeg to the fore.
Octomore 07.4 Virgin Oak, 61.2% ABV
Nose: Spicy peat, fresh earth, old straw and newly-planed wood.
Palate: Earthy, with peaches and lots of very lively spices.
Finish: Ginger, chilli and white pepper in the long finish.
Getting Technical
Malt: Bruichladdich is unpeated, Port Charlotte 40ppm. Octomore - very heavily peated, but varying from batch to batch. Concerto and Propino varieties, plus 50 tonnes of 6 row 'bere' per year.
Mashing: Cast-iron mash tun - 7 tonne mash, 5 tonne mash for bere. 10-12 mashes per week.
Fermentation: 6 Oregon pine washbacks, washback charge 36,000 litres. 60 to 106.5 hour fermentations.
Distillation: 2 wash stills (17,275 litres capacity) - 2 spirit stills (12,274 litres capacity).
Distillery capacity: 1.5million lpa.
