Johannes de Silentio scored this whisky 86 points 
Color: Pale Gold
Nose: The classic Laddie fruit, as far as I'm concerned, is peaches. Here, it's more like melon. This is remarkably fresh, vibrant, and assertive. To complete the fruit salad this nose evokes, you could add to the melons some tart, prickly fruits that give some balance to the sweetness. With only a minute or two, the barley begins to assert itself, as well. The combination is quintessentially Bruichladdich (when younger and matured without any big sherry or wine influence). Yes, that means there's a bit of vanilla, too--it is first-fill bourbon, of course.
Taste: Much more on barley and vanilla here, i.e., the fruitiness isn't so prominent. Normally, I focus on the experience of the arrival first before moving onto actual flavor descriptions. Here, it was hard not to reverse that order. The arrival is nothing remarkable one way or the other: neither thin nor particularly pleasant in terms of mouth coating. The body is fine, there's not really any heat at 50%, so it's pretty good but not exceptional. But back to the actual taste: It probably skews a bit too much towards standard first-fill bourbon maturation for my taste. I'd rather have a bit more distillate-edge here given that it's a special bottling focusing on the biodynamic barley. Oh well--still pretty solid Laddie.
Finish: Not especially long or powerful, but the oak from the first-fill casks isn't drying out my mouth. A wash.
Comments: Pretty good, but a clear step-down from some of the other young, fairly-naked Laddies I've had recently, e.g., the bere barley bottlings. Hell, I'd definitely take the most-recent batch of the Laddie Ten over this, as well. A fun experiment, and I don't regret the purchase, but I wouldn't race out to try this again.
Nose: The classic Laddie fruit, as far as I'm concerned, is peaches. Here, it's more like melon. This is remarkably fresh, vibrant, and assertive. To complete the fruit salad this nose evokes, you could add to the melons some tart, prickly fruits that give some balance to the sweetness. With only a minute or two, the barley begins to assert itself, as well. The combination is quintessentially Bruichladdich (when younger and matured without any big sherry or wine influence). Yes, that means there's a bit of vanilla, too--it is first-fill bourbon, of course.
Taste: Much more on barley and vanilla here, i.e., the fruitiness isn't so prominent. Normally, I focus on the experience of the arrival first before moving onto actual flavor descriptions. Here, it was hard not to reverse that order. The arrival is nothing remarkable one way or the other: neither thin nor particularly pleasant in terms of mouth coating. The body is fine, there's not really any heat at 50%, so it's pretty good but not exceptional. But back to the actual taste: It probably skews a bit too much towards standard first-fill bourbon maturation for my taste. I'd rather have a bit more distillate-edge here given that it's a special bottling focusing on the biodynamic barley. Oh well--still pretty solid Laddie.
Finish: Not especially long or powerful, but the oak from the first-fill casks isn't drying out my mouth. A wash.
Comments: Pretty good, but a clear step-down from some of the other young, fairly-naked Laddies I've had recently, e.g., the bere barley bottlings. Hell, I'd definitely take the most-recent batch of the Laddie Ten over this, as well. A fun experiment, and I don't regret the purchase, but I wouldn't race out to try this again.
