13 November 2016

Bruichladdich: Laddiemp4 tasting

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I had a night to myself last night. My wife's sister had come by to talk and this was an option for me to retreat to my "office"  and really take the time to nose and taste the Laddiemp4 drams.

Laddiemp4 side by side
I had wished I would have been able to join the live tasting on October 13th when I rather coincidently was on Islay. I had asked at the Laddie Store to the guy behind the counter if he could do me a really really big favour. He called in the aid of Ailse and she asked Adam. Adam was Adamant ;) ... the place was full. I got a bottle of the 16-062 so console me ... it has consoled me as the picture below shows.


I had been tasting my second bottle of the 16-062 more than the others. I had postponed it till a propper time. The time was now. I had cleaned three glasses. I had gotten a glass of water and a teaspoon. I had also gotten a pack of "Katjan Pedis" nuts, which I sat aside for later because this stuff will totally overpower your palette.

Guided by Adam Hannett on Youtube I am all set.


I have made an excel version of the scotch whisky tasting wheel. Divided into the Wishart taste groups. I plan to use that to log my tasting notes. It doesn't work editing an excel file and at the same time nose and taste, so this nerdy need needed to wait for later. Make notes with pen and paper is what I do.

  • Cask #361 - distilled in 2008 and matured full term in a French ex-Syrah (red wine) cask. It is at 58% alc. vol.
  • Cask #16-062 - distilled in 2006 and matured in ex-bourbon before being finished in an ex-sherry cask is also at 58% alc. vol.
  • Cask #1062 - distilled in 2005 and matured full term in bourbon is at 59% alc. vol.
Cask #361
Starting of with the Cask #361 Syrah matured whisky.

Cask 361
Nose: 
  • Orange, 
  • Chocolate, 
  • Salty, 
  • Oak, even more so after adding water
  • Little mint, 
  • Floral (dandelion), 
  • Salted Cashew-nuts, 
  • Brie (cheese), 
  • Tobacco.
Taste: 
  • Small bitter, 
  • Warming, 
  • Drying, 
  • Hazel nut, 
  • Cola, 
  • Chocolate, 
  • Ginger, 
  • Light Coffee, (added while typing on youtube)
  • Liquorice, (added while typing on youtube)
  • Light tannins on the aftertaste.
iLaddie instagram
If you are wondering why the Heineken can is on top of my glass. That is because I did not bring covers from downstairs. Got some fun comments online on my instagram


Anyways, with this Syrah I had been wondering what notes I would get from this. Turns out the dried dark fruit notes which you typically get from Sherry matured casks are not in here as the predominant notes. My first reaction to this dram was "Cask 361 is friggin amazing". The orange and chocolate you would also get in a sherry matured dram are there. But not so much the salty influences of the floral notes. Interesting!!

Cask 16-062
Cask 16-062
Nose: 
  • Buttery, I used buttery but could also used "creamy" 
  • Figs, truthfully, i noted this because The guys on youtube did. I will need to sniffle some figs to be sure ;) 
  • Leather, 
  • Sweet and sour Pickles, 
  • Melon, 
  • Raisins, 
  • Bit peppery
Taste: 
  • Toffy, 
  • Pear, 
  • Vanilla, 
  • Raisins, 
  • "Wokkels", see below
  • Orange zest
Wokkels
Wokkels? Yes Wokkels. I had gotten this note before on a USA Dram from Koval also. I am suspecting the crispy cloy taste of these pretzels find their origin in the malt. This is where tasting notes don't translate internationally. I actually blogged about culturally dependant notes in the past. 
This dram is also not a typical Sherry. This is probably because it is a combination of woods. I re-watched the part where Adam explains. Its matured in first and second fill bourbon and from 2014 in PX and Oloroso casks. So this is a hybrid whisky with lots of different woods. This explains the combination of notes I got.

The third dram Cask 1062 is a Bourbon matured dram. It was matured in a Buffalo Trace cask.

Cask 1062

This has an obvious American Oak influence
Nose:

  • Peppery / Nutmeg, 
  • Cinnamon, 
  • Custard, 
  • Vanilla ice cream, 
  • Lemon, 
  • Pear, 
  • Melon

Taste:

  • Peppery, 
  • Salty, 
  • Creamy, 
  • Oaky, 
  • Pineapple, 
  • Clove 
This one for me had a real "oomph" to my palette. An "oomph" I like. I do like the notes from the sherry, but I find the floral fruity tad spicy notes from first fill Bruichladdich a beautiful thing.

I will spend more time with these drams and improve and reconfirm my notes. I found that tasting these side by side really improves the sense of differences in smell. I makes the notes stand out more. I kept the Heineken cans on there as I sat and re-smelled them all. Some notes were gone, some became available. Its beautiful how these drams develop.

my notes

Time to eat the spicy nuts and destroy what is left of my palette ;) ... Yikes! Good thing I held back for these nuts, this would have blown the night! lol




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