Three New Editions from Bruidchladdich
From the Resurrection Dram release (the date refers to Bruichladdich’s revival year):
Company founder and MD Mark Reynier: “This is a celebration bottling – our first Bruichladdich, the resurrection of a legend, the realisation of a dream. Our Resurrection Dram is a testament to the inspired – the Harvey brothers, their avant-guard distillery design and today’s vibrant team of distillers. It is the embodiment of a new era, returning to a more artisanal, old-fashioned, quality way of doing things – like Jim McEwan’s ‘trickle-distillation’.”
In contrast to heavily-peated Port Charlotte and the mighty peat of Octomore, Bruichladdich itself retains the traditional, minimal peat level of 3-5 ppm.
However, casks for this first bottling alone were surprisingly selected from a small, one-off distillation of lightly-peated barley, at an experimental 10 ppm.
And from the Golder Still and Sherry 21 release:
“Golder Still” was aged in rare “squat-hogsheads”, novel casks tested in the late 70s by US coopers seeking the optimum cask shape for modern storage. Fortuitously, the extra whisky-to-wood contact in these stumpy, Disney-like, experimental bourbon casks, imparted greater colour and flavour to the spirit.
Mark Reynier: “There’s not much and it’s unrepeatable - but it’s a glorious, old-style whisky; a classic Laddie, all barley-sugar flavours with a golder hue.”
The “Sherry 21” also comes from the last of a line. Since 1981 sherry is only Spanish bottled, so UK bulk shipments ceased and cask availability dried up. A larger scale bottling, it replaces the successful Twenty series of bourbon matured Bruichladdichs, and stocks are scheduled to last until 2010.
“Decent condition, authentic Oloroso butts are now almost as rare as hens’ teeth. Sadly, you can see why E150 has become so standard in the industry. This is the natural, real deal - rich, mellow, and warming whisky; an ideal winter night-cap with it’s hints of orange, apricot, plum, fig, and dates. For connoisseurs, these are two delicious extremes of Bruichladdich. For us, they are the end of a run. For both, they represent the end of an era.”
