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Monday 30 June 2008

Bruichladdich Declares Itself God.




It's a good company, Bruichladdich. But is it God's own whisky? Not any longer! Three new "multi-vintage" whiskies will be introduced by Laddie this year, replacing the current Waves, Rocks and 3D series. We've spoken in the past about the excellent creativity within the distillery walls at Bruichladdich, but this time they have chosen to reinforce their old brands by keeping the Waves and Rocks names and adding Peat to that series (see above pics) to create a core brand of whiskies that consolidates their current offerings.

According to the press release;


Each cuvée is masterfully assembled by whisky legend Jim McEwan from several ages of Bruichladdich single malt, from different cask types and diverse whisky characteristics.


The concept was originally inspired by Champagne’s Remi Krug: “With a single vintage, it is God who decides on the quality. But with a multi-vintage, I am God.”


Right-ho. A nice concept, excect the PR machine trundles on to say the whiskies had "evolved haphazardly". Come on, Bruichladdich. Either you are an Evolutionist or a Creationist. One can not simply call themselves God and then rely on haphazard evolution as a means of creation, otherwise one is, by definition, not God...

Anyway, back to the releases:
Rocks will be the lightest of the lot, with fresh and fruity tones thanks to French Oak casks. Listed as a good aperitif whisky.

Waves will be mild, with hints of peat (15ppm, apparently). This is an "anytime of the day" whisky, which caskstrength.net feels is exactly the right time of day to pour your first dram.

Peat will be, er, peaty. Replacing the 3D series (and boy do we love the 3D3 here at caskstrength.net towers) this is slightly toned down at 35ppm (so lower than Ardbeg) still with a rich peat flavour but without the more medicinal undertones.

The prices look great with Rocks going out at somewhere around £25 a bottle retail, and Waves and Peat at £30. Excellent stuff. We hope to bring you reviews of these at some stage, when we will decide if the role of "God" is one that Bruichladdich can fill or not. Well, if you're going to set the bar, you might as well set it high!