Bruichladdich The Organic
This whisky comes with blurb:
In Victorian times when Bruichladdich distillery was built, all Scottish barley was organically grown, and the relationship of farmer with his soil and the seasons, and distiller with farmer were intimate and enduring. These natural rhythms and ties were lost as industrialised farming cut the ancient synergy of man, soil, crop, life. An age of super-efficient blandness was born; The cost – a loss of soul, identity and definition.
With this whisky, in partnership with our organic farmers, Sir William Roberts of Mains of Tullibardine, William Rose at Mid Coul and Neil Scobie at Coulmore, we are reconnecting, rediscovering that soul. Once again land and dram united.
Apparently the organic barley is genuinely interesting here – it functions differently during farming all the way through to distillation, all of which helps create a different taste to the usual barely.
The colour is a light gold or straw, a very delicate looking dram. On the nose: intense malt, cream cheese, touch of peat. In the mouth: very smooth, weighty, creamy, mouth-watering (I don’t know what causes it, but it seems a trend in nearly all the Bruichladdichs I’ve tasted so far) and there again is that intense burst of malted barley that’s so mixed with the delicate peating it’s hard to separate the two. There’s something enormously precise about this whisky.
Bruichladdich The Organic has recently been awarded “exceptional” status by Michelin and Gault Millau tasters who made up a panel of from the European food and drink industry. “No other spirit has been rated as high over the last four years,” they said. They’re probably on to something, too. You can pick a bottle of this up for a reasonable £35.
The Macallan Fine Oak 10 Years Old.
Macallan is the third largest selling single malt in the world, apparently, and is located in the other famous whisky region of Speyside. The Fine Oak Range is triple cask matured in various oak casks (I’m not quite sure why the stress on the oak part, since all single malt whisky matures in oak barrels) but it lends it a classic flavour profile and isn’t as sickly sweet as the Macallan 10 I’ve tried previously.
Colour: gold. On the nose: heavy notes of fruit and vanilla, a touch woody underneath that. In the mouth: delicate, great maltiness coming through, another touch of vanilla but nothing too strong here. Not too weighty, and with a dry, lightly spiced finish. One that should be very approachable to newcomers as well as satisfy those looking for a classic single malt flavour.
You can pick a bottle of this up with publication of your third novel by Tor UK. Cheers, guys!