Today's bottle takes me back to the more recent 'golden age' of whisky, before the Irish whiskey renaissance, before ultra premiumisation and before the madness of post covid whisky.
After the whisky loch of the 80's and the fact that whisky for a large part of the 90's that whisky was seen to be somewhat unfashionable, it meant that specialist shops like my local store in Coleraine, Fairley's, had quite the stock of well aged whisky for very reasonable prices.
Case in point is the Bruichalddich links releases which started in 2003. This series of limited edition releases were all themed on famous links golf courses from around the world and featured the artwork of the renowned golf artist Graeme Baxter.
If you've read enough of my you know I'm pretty terrible at recording the details of some of my bottles. As luck would have it I came across the picture of when I brought this bottle home from Fairley's and it was June 2013. It's only taken me 13 years to drink it and review it! I took me a while to open this bottle because, well....I just liked the look of it!
On top of that I remember an old Ralfy review where he talked about buying bottles, putting them away for a few years and the satisfaction he got from opening a bottle that was maybe going for double or treble the price he paid.....that must have aligned with my Ulster Scots heritage.
Enough meaningless chat...on to the tasting notes!
Bruichladdich 15 Year Old ‘Valhalla’ 46% abv NC/NCF
Bourbon cask matured then finished in premier cru Climens Borsac Sauternes casks
18,000 bottles. £45 from Fairley's Wines.
Nose: A sugary and sweet nose. Icing sugar, nectarines, peach, apricot, pineapple and mango. Orangade. Vanilla pods, oak and fresh butter. Cinnamon lozenges as it opens up. Honey as well as wet sand.
Palate: The Sauternes wine makes it’s presence felt. Sugar coated peaches and sweet mango flesh. Apricot and tinned pineapple chunks. Lime zest, honey and sweet cinnamon. Drying oak appears to combat the sweetness.
Finish: Medium length with a combo of orchard and tropical fruit, sweet wine and toasted oak.
Score: 6 out of 10
Overall: A bit one dimensional and definitely wine dominant to the point I think you’d be hard pressed to realise you were drinking a Laddie. Very easily sipped and imbibed and no off notes really, it just didn’t feel very Bruichladdich like and the coastal characters was completely overrun by the tide of dessert wine sweetness.
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