This was the first 10 year old whisky to be distilled, aged and bottled by the new Bruichladdich owners. A real landmark. While we all thought this could be a great starting point, it now turned out it’s an ending point at the same time, at least for Mark Reynier’s team. Let’s hope the new owners take the distillery down the same path.
This 10 years old ‘Laddie Ten’ has been praised by a lot of people as a high-quality, low-cost whisky. It’s unchill-filtered and not coloured, as all bottlings should be these days.
Bruichladdich 10 yo ‘The Laddie Ten’ (46%, OB 2011)
Nose: clean but not at all light or immature. It has a fruity core of citrus and banana, with a dollop of honey. It shows lots of coastal aromas, a little damp wood and hints of lemon candles. In the distance there’s also liquorice and tiny medicinal notes. A faint hint of toasted malt. Nice Islay character (albeit not exactly peaty) and fairly aromatic.
Mouth: quite bold and flavoursome, on maritime notes, brine, pepper and ginger. Balanced by a vague sweetness of gingerbread and raisins. Drier and oakier towards the end.
Finish: long, back to salty, herbal and softly bitter notes.
Certainly an above average entry-level bottling. We can only assume future standard expressions from the new Bruichladdich will be excellent. Around € 40.
Score: 86/100