Bruichladdich ISLAY BARLEY 2014 700ml

Note: this is an earlier vintage from the one above.

Straw with a green-blue tint.

Nose: Lemon curd, dusty, earthy, mineral/chalky, a hint of something perfume-like, and the smells of a barley field: chaff and grainy. Also farm workshop notes of motor oil and greased metal tools, the tang of a metal grinder and the flakes of metal left behind underneath; slightly flinty and ozone.

So fruity at first: scented apples, grapefruit zest, and a hint of something spirity that later became nail polish remover, but increasingly savoury and industrial; wood oil and resin, dunnage. An intense, penetrating nose. Later gaining notes of sweet caramel biscuity square, wholemeal dough, baked goods, the slightly liquorice note of herby green fennel, grapefruit zest, and barley sugar.

Palate: Intense, concentrated. Limoncello and more grainy notes like a hopper or silo full of grain; again the dusty farm shed, oily workshop, and earthy field first found on the nose.

Finish: Just lovely; concentrated; so tasty and long. Leaving a feeling deep down one’s throat but not hot. A precise whisky; intense, effortless, without any coarseness.

Smooth but with a bit more kick than Classsic laddie