Bruichladdich
Port Charlotte SC: 01 2012 56.2%

40PPM. Aged 9 years
16 Sherry Butts, First Fill and Second ex American oak finished in ex-Sauternes
Dist: 2012 Btl: Feb 2022
Tasted Jul 2022
The nose is slightly farmyardy with chunky sweet honey and subtle citrus. It unwinds to show stone fruits, melon, pear. earth, salt and crisp white fruit. Lightly savoury and meaty with relatively subtle peat. With time the barley emerges along with some vanilla, subtle sherry notes, burnt heather and iodine.

The palate is oily and sweet with late harvested winey honey, chocolate, coffee and subtle-ish earthy peat and mature. It has a good weight of dense apricot, leather and burnt heather. Although fairly sweet the abv does hold that sweetness in check to a certain extent. Long, smoked meat, bitter chocolate and astringent coastal notes on the finish. Subtle bog myrtle and earthy peat in the after-taste.

Water emphasises the honey on the nose and takes the edge off the coastal notes. Richer, denser and showing more American oak vanillins. Subtler peat but still manurey. The palate displays a lot more Sauternes cask sweetness but there's still a good level of peat and manure. Lithe, citric finish with lingering peat, smoked meat, bog myrtle. Although it is quite sweet it does finish dry, salty and almost austere.