One could easily equate the rebirth of Islay’s Bruichladdich distillery to the rebirth of the Scottish single malt industry and the dawn of American craft whiskey by proxy.
The reopening of the Islay distillery in the early 2000s was nothing short of a global phenomenon with then-distiller Jim McEwan traveling across the planet like a rock star, creating legions of Bruichladdich superfans in his wake. At that point in time, Bruichladdich was selling older stocks inherited from the previous owners. They were actively distilling whisky, while blending and selling casks still on hand from the old regime.
With the success of its Botanist gin soon after, it wasn’t long before Bruichladdich sold to Remy-Cointreau. That injection of investment paved the way for their monumental 10 year old single malt almost a decade ago, but since that original age-stated release it’s been a while since we’ve seen something this exciting from the little-distillery-that-could.
Until now.
Fresh off the docks, the new Bruichladdich 18 year old single malt is composed entirely of whiskies distilled in the recent era (even though we can barely believe it’s been that long!). Using a majority 18 year old ex-Bourbon casks, with a few Sauternes and Port wine barrels for added sweetness, the profile delivers all the honey, butterscotch, and tropical fruits that we’ve come to love from their house style.
Remember, the standard Bruichladdich whiskeys are NOT peated. While it’s an Islay malt, Bruichladdich differentiates their peated malts under the Port Charlotte label, so those who avoid the smoky whiskies can enjoy this one with ease. Not only is the whisky delicious, but the bottle design is absolutely gorgeous and the kicker, of course, is that the whisky weighs in at 50% ABV.
If all this wasn’t exciting enough, here’s the real hook: the Bruichladdich 18 year is just $159.95 at Mission while supplies last (price good through 2/18/24).
Given the rising price of Scotch whisky over the last few years, the incredibly fervent fan base for Bruichladdich, and the huge anticipation of this release, Bruichladdich could have charged well over $200 and no one would have batted an eyelid. It’s the value proposition here that has us over the moon about this release.
The promise and optimism we all felt towards craft whiskey in the early 2000s is finally upon us. We all hoped for a day when these modern distillers would deliver better, more interesting whiskies for a reasonable price. That time is finally here. Let’s enjoy it.