Bruichladdich 16 Cuvee E, Sauternes, 46% abv.

In 2008, Laddie released their "The Bordeaux First Growth Series" which is based on a common theme of having laddie 16 year old bourbon barrel juice finish in barrels that previously held wine from the Great Châteaus for about 12 to 20 months depending on who you ask. The Great Châteaus are also known as First Growth, which is the highest rank of French wines in a system initiated by Emperor Napoléon. However, it is not clear how long the barrels held the wine. Moreover, some people say its unpeated distillate while a few others say its peated to 3 ppm, which is virtually unpeated. Cuvee E has laddie juice finished in Château d'Yquem barrels, which interestingly enough, was not one of the great Châteaus until recent history, the list used to be all red wines, Bourdeauxes to be exact (Cuvees A-D). Also interesting to note are the frequency of the historical d'Yquem auction prices relative to the Bordeauxes.

Nose: strong coconut, vanilla, dried grape skin, much stronger than the other wine cask finished Bruichladdichs.

Palate: cool, initial palate is smooth, mid palate is mostly old wood, old herbs, earthy, slightly viney, wine or sherry flavors, back palate has a lot of vine, dried grapes, hints of lotus leaves at the end.

Finish: short, viney, dried fruit.

Dry glass: wax.

This is one where the nose was grades better than the taste. Didn't seem to deliver in terms of flavor, or it was just a collection of flavors I'm not too keen on. Interestingly, this bottling did not have the weird sour-like flavors I typicaly found in Sauternes influenced whiskies. However, I think I sense the quality, just not the flavors and finish.

Grade: C+

Whiskyfun.com, Serge, sgp:561, 85 points
Malt maniacs, 81 points on 3 reviews

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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