Bruichladdich Organic

46% abv

Score:  83/100

Even back in my more granola-oriented hippie heyday out on the west coast of Canada, I never truly bought into the whole organic pitch.  What it tended to boil down to was simple:  overpriced, aesthetically-challenged and in terms of quality…negligibly different from the arguably franken-engineered product that otherwise overflowed the shelves at our local grocery.

Let’s be clear…the argument here isn’t against organic, it’s simply questioning the merits, aside from marketability and socio-political motivations.  Everything else is purely speculative.  I assume the powers that be (Reynier, at the time, I’d guess) were embracing this is primarily as 1) a way to show a loyalty to the home turf and 2) because it’s easy as apple pie to sell organic these days.  Yes.  I’m a cynic.

In short…my thoughts are:  organic ≠ better taste.

Hey…no sleight intended.  Remember…this is coming from a relatively liberal thinker and former hippie (granted I’m now much more of a cold-blooded capitalist, but…)

Moving on to the whisky now.  This is actually decent stuff.  No better than most other ‘Laddie releases.  Certainly inferior to others.  But that’s no different than any other distillery’s output.  And if we’re stacking them up that way Bruichladdich gets extra points for creativity, execution and pure balls.

Nose:  Young and grainy.  Maybe even processed cereal would be closer to what I’m trying to get at here.  Lemon.  Oak.  Vanilla.  Cream.  Custard.  Some pepper.  Orange…and a bit more fruit.  Chocolate.  Slightly scone dough-ish.  Entirely pleasant, if unremarkable.

Palate:  Bitey and a touch spirity.  Here are some oaky notes.  Chili heat and more of that pepper.  Licorice.  Barley as it develops.  Gets a little grassy at the back end and more on the woods again.

Not awesome, but it’s alright, I s’pose.  Not my favorite malt profile, but commendable nevertheless.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt