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

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 46%

Cask : First Fill Bourbon, Sherry Casks

Age : 10 Years (Distilled 2001, Bottled 2011)

Nose :  Earthy funk, citrus, dried florals. Brown sugar opened into a farmyard earthy funk with slightly stale lactic notes. Memories of pencil erasers, loamy clay, and movie theater popcorn butter. Hints of meaty notes with candied bacon and lemon rind.

Palate :  Medium to light body with a mellow profile of cream, florals, and sugar. Loads of creamy lactic notes from sour yogurt water, to fresh whey, to the classic Laddie baby vomit. Beyond the cream was Chinese brown sugar cake, honey, citrus rind, and dried florals. A bit of spice came through near the end as salt, peppercorns, and licorice, along with the impression of slightly rancid oil.

Finish :  Lingering milk sugars and slightly bitter oak.

Score : 3

Mental Image : Melted Brown Sugar Ice Cream Bar

Notes :  This is one of the first things I am re-reviewing, and I owe it all to a friend who gave me this as a blind sample. I was not planning to re-review something I was not fond of the first time, but it was pretty interesting to see how my two reviews match up.  For the curious, here was the original review.

The first thing that comes right out is how different my notes are. While the nose looks about the same, the description of flavors was quite different. Last time I got a lot more ginger with a brighter pop of citrus. In this instance, creamy notes dominated the experience for me, and I found that the finish was much longer than I originally described. Illustrative of the difference, my mental image last time was “A Steaming Bowl of Cacio a Pepe,” which is certainly nothing like melted ice cream.

While my descriptors and emphasis shifted a bit, the score stayed the same. I did not care for it either time I tried it, and even tasting this blind, I did not enjoy it anymore. The mouthfeel was just too light, the lactic funk just brought up all sorts of less than pleasant memories, and there was a rancid-bitter note on at the end that carried through on the finish. I love Bruichladdich’s peated products, but with a few exceptions, their classic/unpeated lineup does not tickle my fancy.