...where distraction is the main attraction.

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Bruichladdich 32 year old 1984 Rare Cask Series

As you can tell by the title, I'm abandoning contemporary Bruichladdich for the old stuff. Today's whisky was assembled from a dozen bourbon casks, a dozen re-racked bourbon casks. That second maturation wasn't just a quickie finish, rather it was eight to nine years in length. The packaging says that these were the last 1984 casks the distillery had in their warehouses. Seems like a nice way for them to bid that vintage adieu.

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Ownership at time of distillation: Invergordon Distillers
Region: Western Islay
Series: Rare Cask
Age: 32 years (31 December 1984 - 26 May 2017)
Maturation: bourbon casks, then bourbon casks again
Outturn: 3000 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 43.7%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose starts off quite spritely despite the whisky's advanced age. Minerals, limes, fresh fennel, cut grass, earth and orange oil. Beneath that floats a rich bread pudding and a drizzle of maple syrup.

The palate also begins youthfully; sweet and malty, gently fruity. Bananas, dried apricots, and apple candy. But then it gets woody. Very woody. Spices, tannins, bitterness. Only the apple candy survives.

It finishes sweet and woody, like a long-aged bourbon, which is not entirely a compliment. Bananas and bubblegum on the furniture. But mostly the furniture.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

It smells gorgeous! I'll give it that. But those aggressive re-racked casks......not for me. I wonder what it was like after its first maturation, and I'll have to keep on wondering. Meanwhile, Angus, Ruben, and the  Whiskybase crew are crazy about this stuff. Sláinte to them! They can have it, and probably do. Let's see how its 1985 Rare Cask cousin performed in comparison...

Availability - Secondary Market
Pricing - ???
Rating - 83 (lovely nose though)