Scotch Whisky Review #338: Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie
Distillery: Bruichladdich.
Region: Islay.
Age: NAS. Bottles in 2017.
ABV: 50.0%.
Batch Number: 17 / 144.
Casks:
| # of Casks | Distillation Year | Barley Origin | Cask Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 2010 | Scottish Mainland Organic | USA Bourbon Barrel 1st Fill |
| 2 | N/A | Scottish Mainland | USA Bourbon Barrel 1st Fill |
| 2 | N/A | Scottish Mainland Organic | USA Bourbon Barrel 2nd Fill |
| 1 | N/A | Scottish Mainland | Spain Pedro Ximenez Sherry Butt 1st Fill |
| 8 | N/A | Scottish Mainland Organic | USA Bourbon Barrel 1st Fill |
| 5 | N/A | Scottish Mainland Organic | Spain Ribera Del Duero Red Hogshead 1st Fill |
| 18 | N/A | Scottish Mainland | USA Bourbon Barrel 1st Fill |
| 10 | 2010 | Scottish Mainland Organic | France Rhone Red Hogshead 2nd Fill |
Price: $35 for 3 200 mL bottles of The Classic Laddie, Islay Barley, and Port Charlotte Scottish Barley Heavily Peated.
Color: 0.3, Pale Gold. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered.
Nose: It’s quite bright. There’s a hint of birthday cake flavored bubblegum
starts things off. Chalk follows through along with some acetone and a hint of sulfur.
Palate: It is quite sharp at full strength and a bit hard to taste. With a bit of water, notes of lemon come out. It’s followed by notes of sugary rice crackers (shelly snow senbei
) and malt barley. There’s a bit of funk going on here, but not a ton.
Finish: Medium to short in length. It’s grassy along with some notes of hay. Some sulfur comes through as well.
Conclusion: Before opening this miniature bottle of The Classic Laddie, the last and only time I’d tried it was in a steakhouse in Las Vegas in early 2018. My thoughts of it, while a bit blurry (that entire trip was a bit of a blur, to be honest), were generally positive. Now I have no way of knowing or guessing what batch that bottling came from, but this particular bottling of Classic Laddie does not line up with that blurry image. It’s a bit all over the place with some birthday cake bubblegum in the nose, some fruit in the palate, and grass in the finish. The sulfur that comes in and out isn’t exactly the most pleasant note and I’m fairly sure I have a high sulfur tolerance. It’s alright in the end, just a bit disjointed and while it is an entry level dram, it does seem to be a bit away from the excellence that Bruichladdich can produce.
Final Score: 72.
Scotch Whisky Review #338, Islay Review #53, Whisky Network Review #484
Scoring Legend:
- 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
- 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
- 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
- 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
- 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
- 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
- 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
- Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.
Scotch & Sheen 
