Bruichladdich 19yo 1989/2009 (51.1%, ‘Black Art’, 6000 Bts.)

In a black bottle which bears a striking resemblance to the famed Bruichladdich Blacker Still and once the first dram is poured the resemblance comes to a shocking end; the colour is bright reddish pink. Quite unlike most scotch whiskies or any whiskies in fact. Anybody who can speak about whisky, these days it seems, is always banging on that colour isn’t important. Time to change your tune and stare at the shocking reddish pink and have a little think about how this happened. The fact sheets talk about bourbon barrels used for maturation but then gooe silent on the subject. Black Art indeed. The nose is at first a little closed but reveals some good malt, brown sugar sweetness, strawberry jam and some fruity sweetness. After a few minutes in the glass the nose changes to reveal some Balsamic vinegar however this is pleasant and does not detract. There is also some spicy wood notes. With water the nose opens to reveal more malt, the various fruit and some brine? The undiluted taste is somewhat different from the nose; warming, some fruit at first and then some mild grapefruit and then in the later stages some more wood notes and malt. An odd collection of flavours to say the least and all in all very unusual but malty. The diluted taste is certainly more drinkable and is somewhat more in the vein of a ‘normal’ whisky (which one suspects was NOT the goal here) with more fruit and dry oaky wood notes. The finish is malty at first followed by some quick flash of fruit and then the spicy oaky wood notes which becomes quite dry rather quickly. The malt seems to grow as does the fruit however the malt is the stronger of the two.

Huh. What a curious whisky; it seems to work however and is quite tasty and after a few minutes it does remind of a good quality Highlander and quite malty.

C$135

Score 84 Points

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