What I would give for the chance to stroll the Laddie warehouses and pick a cask for the distillery shop— I imagine the romance of that idea might not match the reality, but even picking a cask from among a few samples is good fun. This unpeated Laddie came in at just over 9 years and spent its entire maturation in a vin doux naturel cask— think slightly fortified dessert wines, a combination that usually goes well with the malt. It was bottled as a distillery valinch during the covid pandemic and as such I imagine it retailed online instead of in the distillery.

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Whisky: Bruichladdich 9 Year (2011) Distillery Valinch 51

Country/Region: Scotland/Islay

ABV: 61.7%

Cask: Vin Doux Naturel

Age: 9 Year (Distilled 14 Oct. 2011, Bottled 15 Nov. 2020)

Notes: Creamy and sweet, like stocking the cafe milk fridge while chewing on a caramel candy. Beef fat toffees and salted caramel continued with more blue cheese as the funkier lactic qualities of the malt grew louder. Ginger and orange marmalade provided a fruity edge to musty milk notions of butterscotch, new shoes, and old cardboard boxes in a milk fridge. Medium-bodied and syrupy, the flavor profile was less funky, with more of the fruit I expected. Loads of honey and baked stone fruits were served with sweet soft cheese (the closest it got to the lactic funk of the nose). The whisky was peppery and spirited, a youthful malt with some rough edges that became more apparent toward the end, with orange cakes, chocolate, and salted caramel. The finish was medium length with honey, pepper, and a touch of rubbery red vine candies.

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Score: 5-6 (76)

Mental Image: Desert Dining in the old Dairy

Conclusion: This malt was a loud and youthful with tons of sweet concentrated fruits and sugars on the palate, matched only by the amount of peppery spirit. Nine years were not enough to tame the spirit with its oddly mismatched aroma and palate. It had a lovely mouthfeel and finish, but it was hard to get past the feisty spirit, and water did not seem to help. A few drops tamed some of the heat, but left the whisky adrift in a sea of caramel— an oddly placid and simple place for a Bruichladdich to wind up. Overall, a fun whisky with a certain amount of charm, but not one I would run out to try again.