Review #97 - Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2011
'Local Barley' Series: Part 3 of 5
After the heavily peated Octomore spirit, let's switch gears to unpeated distillate, but we'll stay at the same distillery: it's Bruichladdich's Islay Barley range, this one with a 2011 vintage. While this doesn't share the smoke of the Octomore, it does come in with a similar age statement: 6 years, as opposed to 5. Because of that, we likely had some active casks used in the maturation, but hopefully the signature of the special barley will still shine through in the spirit.
Like the Octomore we looked at, this bottle also gives us the specific farms where this barley was grown. For this 2018 bottling, they employed the Coull, Rockside, Island, Mulindry, Starchmill, and Cruach farms, which are scattered around the central and western parts of Islay.
Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2011
Scotland/Islay - Single Malt
Price Paid: USD 80 (2021)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 74 (2023)
Age Statement: 6 Years
Strength: 50% ABV
Details: No color added, not chill filtered; distilled in 2011, bottled in 2018; barley grown at Coull, Rockside, Island, Mulindry, Starchmill, and Cruach farms
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 15 months; bottles at 100%, 60%, 70% (blind tasting), and 50% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Very salty and coastal to start, along with a large helping of earthy notes. There's some malt in there, too, and plenty of spirit notes shining through in this young whisky: it can be crisp, a little bit funky, sort of green and vegetal, with damp green plants and some perfume. Quite a nice variety of fruit, actually, a range from light to dark. Sharper citrus of lemon, lime, and orange, as well as stone fruits of nectarine or peach, but also some prune or dry fig. Despite all of the fruits, this nose is pretty dry, with mild oak and some very light dry vanilla. Interestingly, despite the fact that this was made using unpeated malt, there is a definite smoke note - sort of barbecue char, sort of medicinal - must be some smoke from the barrel char. With more air time, this transitions to icing sugar, some leather, even a hint of white chocolate.
Palate: The palate has a medium-thick mouthfeel, there's definitely some lingering oiliness and the flavors are immediately rich and sharp. It's slightly warm and raw, and there is lots of hot cinnamon, zesty orange, dry (bordering bitter) oak, quite spicy overall. Later on, a major jalapeno/hot pepper note develops, and there's some more of that wood char adding to the dryness. Despite all of the dry notes, there is some fruit here, too: white grape and sour green apple, maybe a bit of white stone fruit as well, but generally light and tart. There's an earthy, salty side to this as well, with some green vegetation and hay, and tobacco smoke later; at the end, we do get a hint of sweeter vanilla, along with perfume and wax.
Finish: The finish is medium length, maybe medium-long. It's a bit raw - definitely some heat here, it's oily and young and spicy... that hot pepper note from the palate sticks around. Wood smoke tickles the cheeks, and there is a light astringency or tannin, but soft sweet notes of butterscotch and dark chocolate are sprinkled in, some vanilla and hard candy, too. Still, we would say this leans dry, generally, and we end with light nuttiness and a bit of a grainy taste.
Final Note: Well, this one doesn't mess around - it punches above its 50% ABV strength, quite spicy and sharp in places, though there is a subtle sweetness to combat it. The youth does come through a bit more in this whisky, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing; the lighter cask regimen does allow the distillate to shine through, and it's full of character, as Bruichladdich usually is. A good whisky if this is your style, and pricing hasn't gone crazy yet, so value is above average, as well.
Our Average Rating: 7.6 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 7.14
