A visit to the Laddie

Much as it is the obligation of every Muslim to make “the Hajj”, the pilgrimage to Mecca; it is the obligation of the whisky lover to make the pilgrimage to Islay – arguably the origination point of the introduction of whisky to Scotland.

One should plan to visit all eight working distilleries on the island – as the variety of whiskies produced by these eight is as varied as the many whiskies produced across the whole of Scotland.

While most people associate Islay with the strongest and peatiest of all whiskies, this is simply a fallacy, as whiskies of great delicacy are to be found at both Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich.

But it is only at Bruichladdich that one can observe whisky being made much as it was made 125 years ago – and interestingly enough, with much of the same equipment.

The staff of Bruichladdich take great pride in the fact that the whisky is made largely by hand, without a computer controlled gadget to be found.

Luddites? Not at all - the former distillery manager’s house (current Distillery Academy quarters and Bed & Breakfast) is wired for WiFi. Inventory is computerized - one concession to the computer age - though not tracked by bar code – Bruichladdich still stencils each and every cask with contents and year of distillation.

On Islay, only at Bruichladdich will you find a completely open mash tun – allowing you to watch the impressive arms of the rakes rise and fall through the hot mash, tossing and turning the porridge-like liquid. By contrast, few distilleries in Scotland still have open mash tuns - most distilleries have switched to a covered version covered which utilizes the more modern lauter or semi-lauter mixing mechanisms.

The purpose of the mash tun is to extract sugars from the barley grist so that they can be siphoned off as sugary wort, destined for the giant wooden wash backs made of traditional Oregon pine. Wooden wash backs, for the most part, have been replaced by large, covered, stainless steel tanks. These modern, covered wash backs offer only a small port hole, as opposed to wooden wash backs, which allow you to easily lift the cover and afford yourself an excellent view of the wort merrily brought to a roil - through the magic of fermentation - by the yeast.

The stills of even the most modernized distilleries, remain sacrosanct. Though they vary in size and shape from distiller to distiller, their specific designs have generally not changed in either form or function and they are the one constant to all distilleries. Unfortunately, at modernized distilleries, the distilling process is controlled, for the most part, by computers - At Bruichladdich the process is controlled by sight and the hand turning of valves - and continues to depend on the skill of stillmen like Neil and Duncan "the Budgie".

The only traditional practice one cannot observe at Bruichladdich, is the floor malting. Though today it is quite rare, at one time all distilleries performed their own malting - and today on Islay you can still see floor maltings at both Laphroaig and Bowmore.

While exploring the grain store, I did stumble into the room where, many years ago, the Bruichladdich floor maltings once took place. Now used as a storage room it would take some work to get the floor and steeps up to snuff, and since the Bruichladdich kiln house was taken down some time ago, there's not much point in starting the malting process if you can't dry the barley. So on-site maltings are not in the immediate future for the Laddie.

One might think that Bruichladdich (evidenced by their Victorian-era equipment and steadfast adherence to the processes of years gone by) was firmly rooted in all things traditional. This is simply not the case - Jim McEwan is, if nothing else, an experimentor.

One experiment unique to Bruichladdich is the release of "editions". For example, the 15 year old Bruichladdich has been sold aged partially in sherry casks (1st edition) and Sauternes casks from Chateau d'Yquem (2nd edition).

Other experiments involve peat. The triple distilled Trestarig and the quadruple distilled Perilous Whisky (also known as X4) are unpeated. The standard Bruichladdich (a surprisingly soft and elegant spirit – fruity, floral and malty in nature) is lightly peated to an un-Islay-like 3 ppm. At the other extreme, Jim and the team at Bruichladdich decided to play “What if” five years ago - as in “What if we used the same equipment which has, for years, been used to make the traditionally light Bruichladdich, and peated the bloody hell out of it?”

These experiments have resulted in the creation of the Port Charlotte, peated to a level of 40 ppm (by contrast Ardbeg, the Islay whisky many associate most strongly with peat smoke, is peated to a level of 50 ppm) and the fabled Octomore, peated to a mind-numbing 167 ppm.

Too Much of a Good Thing?
The continued innovations have resulted in a stream of new expressions. Some have questioned the wisdom of the fast and furious roll-out of new marques, which seems to induce a level of heart-burn among some whisky purists and collectors.

Truly, the biggest issue might be Bruichladdich’s inability to get all of these expressions out to the market – after all, there is only so much shelf space at your average retail outlet.

One notable whisky expert (who shall remain nameless), tells me:

There is a view gathering force that Bruichladdich generally have over done things with all their releases...and I am quite a fan. They need to calm down a bit if people are to take them seriously.

To my mind, there is the danger of appearing to go for the short buck, or worse, cannibalizing your own sales (after all, there is not an unlimited market for whisky) - but if you, like me, are not a collector and do not feel obligated to grab a bottle of every release coming down the pike, then this shouldn't present a problem at all.

For instance, I have the first edition 3D, but not the second; the second edition 15, but not the first. But again, I am not a collector - and I eventually drink all of my stocks.

Coming Attractions
I saw quietly aging casks of Port Charlotte which had been purchased (during the limited pre-sale) by notable whisky personalities such as Andrew Jefford, Martine Nouet, Ian Buxton, and Angela Forgren D’Orazio of Mackmyra. I also got to see a number of casks of X4 (the quadruple distilled "Perilous Whisky") in a back corner, as well as the previously mentioned Octomore.

And luckily, a valinch was handy, so I had the opportunity to sample both the Octomore and the Port Charlotte directly from the cask.

Port Charlotte
Keep in mind, these notes are based on cask strength samples taken from a 2001 distillation, matured in a bourbon cask (and NOT from the final bottling which will be a mixture of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry) - in the range of 65% ABV. The Port Charlotte has a very interesting nose - the peat is there all right, but a sweet floral perfume quickly takes over - the DNA of Bruichladdich is obvious – bright, floral and briny – proving indisputably that the shape of the still has an astounding effect on the resultant spirit.

The mouth-feel is dense and oily, and the flavors are a tasty mix of dark chocolate (giving way to a more bitter chocolate), sea salt, toffee, stewed fruit, nuts and a definite oak taste.

Adding a bit of water, re-releases the peat along with sweeter hard candies. All in all, it is a little young, but most strongly peated whiskies reach their peak at 14-17 years.

I believe the final bottling will be worth getting - and I will be interested to see how this matures.

Octomore
Interestingly, the nose doesn't completely let on that this whisky has been peated to 167ppm (you don't get hit in the face with a campfire as when nosing a Laphroaig). It also has the characteristic Bruichladdich bright, floral, sea-salt notes. The taste, on the other hand is truly a peat monster. Too young and too powerful to be enjoyed at this point in time, the Octomore will be introduced to the world as a component of the forthcoming 3D 3rd edition (also known as 3D3).

What's next for Bruichladdich? Big things, I'll wager. The new packaging for the Port Charlotte PC5 Evolution is a departure from their more traditional look - is this the sign of things to come?

Comments

[Ed Patrick]

Interesting piece on Bruichladdich. "Gentleman Jim" McEwan has become a catalyst in the whisky world and I'm happy to be a convert. I've been a traditionalist all my life, raised in the Glasgow style of throwing the whisky over your neck and washing it down with a pint of beer. I saw many changes in my life and I was against them all. Not any more. Thanks to McEwan at Bruichladdich and the folks at Glen Grant and Glenmorangie, I now relish the full spectrum of malts matured or finished in a myriad of different casks. I suffer from only one curse -- I like them all, whether heavily peated, lightly peated or even unpeated. Why drink the same malt ad infinitum when you can tantalize the taste buds with a new treat every time? This year I did the unthinkable: I drowned two ounces of a good single malt in four ounces of diet cola just to see why on earth young Spanish drinkers do the same. It was a little too sweet, but nevertheless deliciously refreshing on a hot summer day. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. The times they are a'changing. I've been enjoying single malts for 48 years and my only regret is that I didn't drink more when they were cheaper!
Keep it up, Jim!