Whisky : Bruichladdich 10 Year “The Laddie Ten,” Second Edition

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 50%

Cask : First Fill Bourbon, Sherry, French Wine

Age : 10 Year

Nose : Fruit, leather, and earth. Stewed fruits with slightly funky notes of old leather boots called to mind the old woman who lived in a shoe. Preserved citrus rinds with ginger candies, pickled fruits, and hoisin sauce. The wife described it as fish bait with slightly earthy-mushroom undertones.

Palate : Medium-bodied and mild with gentle notes of fruit, salt, and pastries. Plums and pluots hit the palate first, followed by dried fruit, sweet spice, and chocolate syrup. Notes of buttery pastries and marble pound cake came near the end with a kiss of salt and earthy funk.

Finish :  Lingering subtle fruits and earth.

Score : 5

Mental Image : There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

Notes : A far more subdued affair than the first limited edition Laddie Ten. The wife found this to be gentle and inoffensive, though not terribly interesting to sip on. I did not entirely disagree, this felt a lot more cask-driven than the first one, and while I was happy that some of the lactic funk was toned down, I am not sure I found the leathery funk to be all that much more enjoyable. This was much closer to a bog-standard sherry/wine dram than it was a complex Bruichladdich.

I may not be a massive fan of wine maturation, but it did give this a nice contrast between fruit, leather, earth, and chocolate, with each of these different notes taking a moment in the spotlight. If anything, the best part about this dram was remembering the nursery rhyme, “There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe,” and the rabbit-hole of looking up its origins and wondering if I should include more nursery rhymes in my history lectures.

Overall, this was better than the first edition by a fair margin, but it was not the sort of thing I would chase down. I still soundly prefer my Bruichladdich to be peated.

Image Credit: Whiskybase