Of all the great stories out there surrounding Scotch distilleries and their releases, Bruichladdich's takes the cake - after all, no one else can tout run-ins with the US Military Intelligence, the CIA and the UK Ministry of Defence. You just can't make this stuff up!
And so with great stories come great whiskies, which in the case of Bruichladdich, has been their iconic WMD series - that is Whisky of Mass Distinction!
So how did all this begin?
What is today one of Scotland's most beloved distilleries, Bruichladdich has had unfortunately a number of bouts of closures, the most recent of which happening in 1994, with the distillery's current run having restarted in 2001. Yet as the Islay distillery had begun to dust off its stills and get things going again, as it turns out an unlikely party out there was also keeping watch, and it certainly wasn't for the whiskies to be revived. None other than the US Military Intelligence and CIA Defence Threat Reduction Agency had mistaken the newly shipped copper stills being set up being some sort of chemical weapon production operation. Bruichladdich would thus only find out they were being spied upon for possibly producing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) when they had received an email from a secret service agent regarding one of Bruichladdich's webcams, which had been installed by the distillery to allow fans an up close view of their traditional whiskymaking, having been faulty which in turn disallowed the agent from monitoring the operation. Upon finding out about this, the legendary Mark Reynier, who had revived the distillery, would clarify that Bruichladdich was only interested in making whiskies and not being one to miss a good marketing story, would turn it into a now legendary release - the 1984 Big Brother, which would kick-off the Whisky of Mass Distinction (WMD) series.
Amusingly, just a couple of years later in 2005, two local Islay fishermen, John Baker and Harold Hastie, would spot a most peculiar sight whilst out catching crabs and lobsters off the coast of Islay - a seemingly lost remote piloted submersible. The pair would toll it back to shore at the Port Ellen harbour before contacting local authorities and even bringing it back home for display on John's garden. The submersible (with the UK Ministry of Defence's HMS Penzance name on it) was eventually brought over to nearby Bruichladdich whilst awaiting the authority's response. Funnily, the Ministry of Defence would deny having ever lost the submersible, and yet would return months later with a HMS Blythe that would come to collect it back, that was after John had taken a couple of funny photos of it which had gone viral on the Internet. Neither John nor Harold would ever receive any acknowledge or thanks for helping to recover the lost Yellow Submarine. With such an unlikely sequence of events, the folks at Bruichladdich knew that they had little choice but to add this bit of lore to their WMD series - and thus the the 2005 Yellow Submarine was born! Bruichladdich would even later purchase a replica of the submersible which was put on display at the distillery's porch!
The WMD series would eventually grow with a third expression - the Yellow Submarine The Legend Resurfaces - that was released in 2018, and in 2026, we now have the Yellow Submarine (Reclassified) which has been released for the distillery's 25th anniversary since its revival! This of course got the fans going and the new release was sold out almost immediately. Thankfully the good folks at Singapore's The Single Cask had managed to snag a bottle and we of course had to get ourselves down to the bar to try it for ourselves!
Now getting into the whisky itself, the Bruichladdich Yellow Submarine (Reclassified) is a 14 Year Old (mirroring the original Yellow Submarine release) that's made with 100% unpeated Scottish barley, which has then been aged in a combination of First-Fill Bourbon barrels (75%) and Bordeaux Red Wine casks (25%).
Let's get to it!
Whisky Review: Bruichladdich Yellow Submarine (Reclassified), 14 Years Old, 54.2% ABV
Tasting Notes
Colour: Amber
Aroma: Rich and honeyed, it's almost chocolatey on the open, really luscious with toffee over yellow raisins and gooseberries. It's almost syrupy! Really perfumed, wafts of lavender and lemongrass delicately flutter about with also citrusy tones of orangettes, orange blossoms, blood orange, and also quinces and apricots. As it continues to open up, it's getting more meadowy and grassy, with a cereal sweetness of honey stars on swaths of vanilla cream, with a crack of black pepper. At the jammy core are red fruits of red currants, strawberries, blackcurrant and cherry jams and preserves. Really firm and concentrated, settling on honeyed musky tropical fruits of custard apples, mangosteens, jackfruits and gooseberries.
Taste: Medium, almost full bodied, really. Super rich and creamy and luscious with a pillowy plushness that's almost syrupy, yet concentrated. It's immediately honeyed with a spiciness, effortlessly unfurling to showcase honeyed musky fruits of gooseberries, jackfruits, custard apples and mangosteens, with a tinge of quince. This is backed up by a warmer bed of melted brown sugar and creme brulee that wraps around a core of jammy fruits, of red currants, cranberries, blackcurrants and cherry jams and preserves. Slight barnyard funkiness here, hay, leather and horse fur, little bit of black pepper too. Into the finish it's more musky, although still candied, with fleshy white tropical fruits and green fruit skins, of green guavas and custard apples.
Finish: It grows in that spiciness, still very much candied and creamy, with those musky dried jackfruits riding out the wave, here set against darker fruits of raisins, dried plums and prunes. There's a raw cream, hay and horse hair funkiness, that's coming through along with the brown sugar and leather. A long finish, with lingering tones of honeyed, musky tropical fruits of guavas, mangosteens and gooseberries, with a touch of rancio and black pepper.
My Thoughts
What a whopper! This is big and bold and bodied! It's really rich yet without an overt heaviness, coming across more like a candied block of fruit, with great presence and stature. It bears some patience in opening up, which definitely works well to really showcase those deep and rich layers, surfacing all these little nuances and exotic nuggets. That said, it seems to be profiled by tones of confectionaries, musky tropical fruits and then a core of darker fruits with a side of farm-y funkiness. The dimensions are well-integrated, almost folded into the pillowy blankets of honey, yet do show up with time. It's lively and energetic, which is likely why it doesn't come across heavy or over the top, yet not quite so distracting or domineering. Altogether, a really good balance of Bruichladdich's signature character with the various cask influences that are rendered almost proportionally even! A spectacular whisky that's perfect for cold nights! It's the ultimate nightcap!
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
