Whisky: Bruichladdich 12 Year (2009), R&BT Cask 3046

Country/Region: Scotland/Islay

ABV: 59.4%

Cask: Wine Hogshead

Age: 12 Years (Distilled Sept. 2009, Bottled Sept. 2022)

Nose: Leather and burnt ends, plastic and sulfur, stewed fruits and herbal medicine, hints of gingerbread, roasted grain, smoked tea, five spice.

Palate: Full-bodied, tannic, stewed fruits, sulfur, medicinal spice, peppery toward the end with brown sugar, leather, and a touch of sweet plastic, more earth and herbal medicines with time.

Finish: Long and drying with fruits and wood.

Score: 5-6 (75)

Mental Image: Herbalist on a Test Drive

Narrative & Notes: The cask took the wheel on this one with big waxed leather, new car smell, burnt ends, and a touch of plasticky sulfur.  The stewed fruits I expected sat further in beyond the fragrant entrance to a traditional Chinese medicine shop with aromatic woods and spices spilling out the front door— or was it a gingerbread construction site?  Dried berries, roasted barley, and smoked tea leaves meandered with five spice and roasted duck for a pleasant evolution. Full-bodied, the palate was tannic and drying with hefty fruits, medicinal spices, and sulfur intermingling before a peppery finish.  Dried berries and plums with a sticky brown sugar syrup and lacquered wood arrived with waxed leather, sulfur, and a touch of sweet plastic.  The traditional medicine shop was open for business with herbal tinctures and dried mushrooms, before more pepper and melted fruity popsicles developed.  The finish was long and drying with fruits and wood.

The wine cask took center stage on this one— fruits, leather, and sulfur were all available in plentiful quantities.  It provided a lovely meatiness and hints of char to the proceedings alongside a less desirable helping of sulfur and plastic. Those notes were not always unpleasant, especially as they shifted alongside an herbal medicine shop, but I have no doubt the sulfur sensitive would find it offensive.

Overall, certainly a divisive whisky— more interesting than good.