Elements Of Islay – Pl1 (Port Charlotte), 60%.

Rich dark gold to copper in colour.

The trademark Bruichladdich buttery peated nose easily identified here, slight tcp notes poking through. Not as fruity on the nose as the colour may lead you to expect, but quite openly maritime, with some malt chucked in to the salt pot. The nose is fairly complex and keeps you there for quite some while and finally gives up damp smoky wood notes.

The whisky has no age statement, but it’s fairly up front hot on the palate be that from the high ABV or it being slightly young is unknown, but it’s likely to be less than 10 years old due to its nature; this often works well for peated whiskies. The mouth feel is pretty full and unctuous and although the obvious sherry maturation isn’t right up at the front it certainly adds a sweet fruity note that balances out fantastically well with the dry peaty spirit.

Once your mouth adjusts to the high ABV this becomes pretty smooth and has a massive and very long lasting finish.

‘Yummy’ seems to describe it well. A touch of water makes it slightly smoother and easier to drink, but doesn’t detract at all and probably makes it all the more interesting and enjoyable.

Mostly sold out now, but I’ve found a bottle on sale which I’ve snapped up.

Sample kindly supplied by Dave Alcock from www.thewhiskydramalista.com
Twitter: @whiskyrepublic