Bruichladdich 1986 / 30

By Barry Bradford on March 26, 2018 • ( Leave a comment )

Bruichladdich 30 Years Old 1986 Sherry: The Magnificent Seven (44.6%, OB, Rare Casks, 2017)

Category: Islay single malt scotch whisky
Origin: Bruichladdich Distillery
Bottling: Bruichladdich, Rare Casks
ABV: 44.6%
Cost: £723.55

What they say

A dram with a history and a backstory that will be hard to beat, our 1986/30 is made up of our very last seven casks of ‘86 spirit.

Ultra-rare. This is our elegant, floral Bruichladdich with intense, full-term sherry maturation. First filled into Oloroso butts in 1986, this spirit lay untouched in our loch-side warehouses until 2012 [already 26 years old], when our then Master Distiller Jim McEwan decided to supercharge this sublime single malt by filling it into our privileged parcel of Pedro Ximinez butts from winemaker Jan Pettersen at bodega Fernando de Castilla.

Limited to 4,200 bottles, the 1986 is bottled at the distillery without chill-filtration or artificial colouring at the natural strength of 44.6% alc. vol.

Official tasting notes:

Colour: As dark and mysterious as PX itself.
Aroma: Dried fruit – raisins, fig syrup, prunes and Christmas cake. Muscovado sugar, a hint of hot sand and candied peel, dried tea leaves, pipe tobacco and leather rolled in PX.
Taste: The aroma is truly astounding. On the palate the experience raises the bar still further with sweet PX notes, raisins, dried figs, dates, grape sugar. Leather, cigar boxes and Christmas cake. Everything a Sherry matured whisky should be and more. The complexity and balance is retained as the marine freshness and fruity notes of apricot and apple come through from the Bruichladdich DNA.
Finish: Never-ending. Sweet fruit, PX, salted caramel, cinder toffee and a hint of smoke.
Character: BANG! The mic is dropped…

What I say

Distilled at Bruichladdich in 1986 and originally matured in Oloroso Sherry butts, then re-casked at 26yo in 2012 into PX casks for a 4 year finishing period.

Released as part of Bruichladdich’s Rare Cask series.

Thanks to Christy at Bruichladdich for the Christmas present.

My tasting notes:

Appearance: Chocolate and ruby (17/20), rare, fine tears and ultrafine legs.
Nose: Nutty, toffee, chocolate, dried fruits, rum & raisin fudge or ice-cream, honey-roast almonds, caramelised sugars, milk chocolate, candied walnuts, molasses, treacle, raisins and black cherries
Taste: Caramelised nuts, maple & pecan pie, toffee, milk chocolate, rum & raisin, dried fruit; raisin, prune / plum, jammy and also savoury, like jam on mnalt loaf, brown toast or a toasted fruit teacake, their is the faintest hint of well-incorporated baking spices, dark leather tannins and sherry or rum-infused dried-fruit dumpling or pudding.
Finish: Long, pudding sweet, malty with more rum and red fruits

Overall

Delicious, really nutty and full of chocolate before moving into steamed fruit pudding soaked with rum or sherry. Very Christmas-like. From memory this is only the second Oloroso-matured and PX finished whisky we have knowingly sampled and both were really on the button for me flavour-wise.