The Full Monty... The Laddie 10

Nudity is a bizarre concept. On one level it is fragile, vulerable and open. On another it is knobbly, gangly and bloody funny. Nudity in art becomes a representation of the human form, of our animalistic desires and of being laid bare for judgement by God. Going starkers in public is simply hilarious. There is nothing like watching people streak across sporting grounds being chased by clumsy men in fluorescent jackets until the inevitable rugby tackle and pile-on.

I think, particularly in Britain, the embarrassment and self-awareness about nudity makes the juxtaposition of the beauty of it and its comic potential all the more evident. More disturbing perhaps is the insatiable desire of our society to consume near-naked images of 'perfect' bodies on billboards, in magazines and on the TV, yet still possess an innate fear of being seen naked ourselves. I would argue that this is an issue that needs addressing and one I agree with Gok Wan on.

The only place where nudity seems to be commonplace is men's showers. Due to a broken boiler I have had to shower at the gym recently. The gym in question has doors for its showers yet men still shower with the door open and sit around texting stark-bollock-naked afterwards. This is a scenario where I don't quite understand nudity - if there is a door use it. I completely understand if there is no door, but if there is, use it.

Lately I got the chance to try the new ten year old Bruichladdich, the Laddie 10. This Bruichladdich is unpeated and unlike most Bruichladdich, it isn't finished in an array of casks and hasn't had anything 'progessive' done to it. It is essentially a naked Bruichladdich. It is also my favourite Bruichladdich to date. The full monty...

Laddie 10
46% - 10 Years Old - Bottled by Bruichladdich
Nose: At first cheddar, weirdly enough, followed by nuts, melon and lemon. With time; kiwi, heather and white pepper announce themselves in a very eclectic nose.
Palate: Light, creamy and fruity with wheat cereal notes that I get in the Organic bottling.
Finish: Fairly spicy with good length. A solid end to an interesting and well constructed malt.
Overall: It's great to see a Bruichladdich that not only represents the work of the distillery since 2001, but also showcases how fantastic it can be without tassels and adornments. I hope this is the direction the distillery goes down because it offers a very rewarding, tackle-out, future.

Vertical Limit - Bruichladdich X4+3 and Octomore Release 4

Mankind has an inbuilt urge built into our psyche to test and push the limits. From a mischievous four year old prodding the house cat repeatedly with a screwdriver to NASA putting a man on the moon. Humans have an inclination to see how far they can go. Events such as the Olympics demonstrate how far the body can be pushed in activities extraneous to everyday living. Games like Jenga emphasise how far we can push the laws of physics; and TV shows like Geordie Shore push the boundaries of bad taste. So why do we have this inherent desire to go where no man or woman has gone before? My theory is that we are naturally competitive and territorial so claiming any ground, no matter how abstract, is seen as a primal gain.

This of course leads me to whisky. The whisky world is rife with pushing the limits of what is possible. One distillery in particular is renowned for doing this, and that is those progressive Hebridean distillers over at Bruichladdich. Jim McEwan and friends are not afraid to attempt things that few others would dare to do, and of all of their experiments, two jump to mind that highlight how far they are prepared to go to lay new ground. These two whiskies are the Bruichladdich X4+3 and the ferocious Octomore Release 4.

The X4+3 is a not twice, not thrice, but quadruple distilled whisky. With each distillation the ABV of the new make spirit rises and with each distillation the risk of an explosion also increases. What is left is new make that clocks in an ABV in the early nineties. The X4+3 is the first release that can legally be called whisky and is an intense dram. The hope is that in seventy plus years it will still be strong enough to be labelled whisky even after the angels have had their greedy share.

Bruichladdich X4+3
63.5% - 3 Years Old
Nose: Candy sticks and sugar syrup arrive first with a jammy scent swiftly following. Then comes the spirit with a slight methynated spirityness and notes of sweet potato.
Palate: Very spirit forward like poteen with a nuttiness that becomes more jammy with water.
Finish: Very hot, spirity and clean with a longer finish than I expected.
Overall: An accomplishment in what can be done with a pot still but not something I would quaff regularly. It did have a warming quality that wasn't unpleasant.

The Octomore Release 4 builds on the already impressive work of its predecessors and can claim to be the peatiest whisky to date with a scorching ppm of a meagre 167 (compare this to ppm's in the mid-40s from other highly peated malts). This whisky is pure ash and frightfully huge.

Octomore Release 4
62.5% - 5 Years Old - ppm 167 - Distilled and Bottled by Bruichladdich
Nose: Muddy wellies sinking into a peat bog of eternal stench (forgive the labyrinth reference) that increases the longer it sits in the glass. Under this smoky shell there is a brine and vanilla that added a depth I foolishly doubted would be there.
Palate: Well my notes simply say: "F***ing smoky!" More eloquently put there is every layer of smoke imaginable: peat, ash, soot, oak smoke, more peat. An orchestra of peat smoke. A peat troll lighting a cigar in a burning building. Smoky.
Finish: Powerful, a touch of vanilla before steam erupts from your ears. Massive, like the Ardbeg Alligator, taints your palate and sinuses for some time to come!
Overall: This is a whisky like no other, it is a record-breaker that rises out of the glass, forces its way up your nose and roars down your throat. Huge, peat-ridden and powerful.

The PC8 - The Gorgonzola of the Whisky World

Sometimes I say, think, raise attention to, something only I can see. No matter how much I insist and argue other people adamantly disagree with me and tell me I am uttering utter heresy for even daring to make such observations. I like to think I am a twenty-first century Galileo but in truth I am most likely just misguided. However it is very difficult to let such things go because they always stay imprisoned in my head waiting for somebody else to realise the truth behind my revelations.

Recently I ran a peated whisky tasting and I concluded the night with the peat troll that is Bruichladdich's PC8. I made a claim that aside from the intense peatreek there was a very real stink of cheese about it. This resulted in sneers and jibes as my tasting notes were ridiculed and thrown to the lions. I should say my audience were actually very pleasant and enthusiastic and were wholly polite in their calm and measured destruction of my final tasting note. Yet no matter how much I insisted no-one agreed with me. Maybe I should treat this as a lesson and learn to understand my nose can be wrong, or... I could stubbornly put my notes up here.

Port Charlotte PC8
60.5% - 8 Years Old - Bottled by Bruichladdich
Nose: Reams of thick peat rising like a noxious fug off the surface of the whisky with gargantuan notes of gorgonzola and smoked cheddar creating an earthy cheesy quality with later notes of sawdust.
Palate: Thick peat again followed by burnt sugar and caramel lending this dram a sweet undertone.
Finish: Peaty with a chemical solution of chlorine and salt. Shorter than I expected but powerful.
Overall: Well I get cheese even if no-one else does. This is truly a peat-ridden whisky to satisfy even the most hardcore of peatfreaks. My only criticisms would be the finish could have endured longer and there was an overall lack of complexity. Still, smoked cheese anyone?