Time Warp Sessions and more, today Bruichladdich


September 8, 2026


	The Time Warp Sessions (and more), today Bruichladdich
Not easy to keep up with Bruichladdich, they’re firing on all cylinders… We’ll see what we manage to do, probably in fairly absolute disorder and with quite some wines involved, but starting with a wee ‘Time Warp’ session indeed… A two-litre bottle done for Corade in France, early to mid 1990s (WF Archive)

Bruichladdich 10 yo ‘Old Skool’ (50%, OB, 2026)

This baby celebrates 25 years since the distillery reopened. Hum, I believe we were there, and I’ll take this opportunity to tell you that the finest version of the ten-year-old from the days of this label (the Jim Beam Brands/Invergordon era), back in the 1980s and 1990s, was the ‘sherry’ version for France. We also had two-litre bottles of the 10-year-old with this label, but not the ‘sherry’ version. Nothing is ever perfect in this world. Colour: gold. Nose: we often talk about melon with natural Bruichladdich, and that’s exactly what we have here, together with apple tart and the faintest touch of smoke. Wood smoke. With water: very lovely, vanilla, ripe apples, whelks. Indeed, whelks. Mouth (neat): dried apples, figs, quince paste, lovely green pepper, and perhaps a few maritime touches. With water: the barley comes to the fore, as does mint, blossom honey, hay… Finish: fairly long and fresh, fruity (apple), slightly saline. Comments: a very fine commemoration, executed with great care, bravo. Good grief, 25 years already…
SGP:551 - 87 points.

So we had originally planned to do a short ‘time warp’ session, and that is indeed what we’re going to do, but we have unilaterally decided to add a few other expressions afterwards. We’ll see what we end up with, but in the meantime…

Bruichladdich 17 yo 1976/1994 (52.1%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection)

Naturally, this baby had been matured in an ‘oak cask’, as duly specified on the label. That never ceased to make us laugh. Colour: deep gold. Nose: a truly astonishing family resemblance, immediate and indisputable, with little cider apples, stewed apples, melons, camphor, seashells and wet beach sand. Quince liqueur, bergamot liqueur… Utterly beautiful. With water: that famous old tweed jacket that has weathered so many rains and storms, chervil, lime, porridge for the gods… Mouth (neat): rich and textured, almost creamy, and sublimely saline. We could almost believe there was a little peat involved, unless they borrowed a cask from one of the local distilleries, perhaps just to the east, or indeed right down in the south of the island. A magical arrival. With water: all the little mints and all the little yellow fruits. Finish: medium in length, but perfectly balanced. Citrons, melons, seashells… Comments: it’s not that I’m surprised… But yes, I am surprised… What unfathomable beauty!
SGP:562 - 93 points.

Come on, let’s celebrate this lovely duo with a few more Bruichladdichs, selected completely at random… While trying to avoid Rhinns, Lochindaal, Port Charlotte and other peaty deviations…

Bruichladdich 11 yo 2010/2022 (52.7%, Whisky Picnic Bar & The Whisky Agency, Rivesaltes barrique, cask #2136)

Ouch, wine, that’s something that may have hampered a few Laddies in the past, so let’s see… That said, Rivesaltes is a fortified wine, just like sherry… Colour: rich gold. Nose: pear tart, runny caramel, apricots roasted with honey… Hard to argue with that, we’ll agree. With water: raisin and caramel tart, cinnamon, walnuts, a little sulphur. Mouth (neat): apricot liqueur, mirabelle liqueur, one drop of seawater, one drop of pepper liqueur. It’s still a little too much for me. With water: even more so after adding water. Finish: rose liqueur, lychees, pepper. Comments: I must confess I struggled a little this time.
SGP:751 - 79 points.

Bruichladdich 18 yo 2008/2026 (57.3%, Halcyon Spirits, oloroso sherry finish, 185 bottles)

Colour: full gold. Nose: oh lovely, turrón, walnut tart, caffè latte, chocolate truffles, a little pepper, parsley, basil, pipe tobacco, damp potting soil… With water: those peppers are rather magnificent on the nose. Mouth (neat): excellent, walnut and orange liqueurs, cinnamon and pepper. That potting-soil side is there too. With water: very beautiful, tobacco, coffee, peppers, candied walnuts, nutmeg, toasted buckwheat. Finish: fairly long, spicier, more peppery, this is the only point where it becomes a little ‘marked’. Comments: no, this is a very, very fine bottle, with a finishing indeed, but it was an ultra-classic finishing.
SGP:561 - 87 points.

Bruichladdich 30 yo 1991/2021 (41.3%, Whisky Maniac & Sansibar, bourbon hogshead)

A fragile but adorable little creature, perhaps… And then, we do love seeing tartans and clans back on our labels, just like in the good old days, it makes a nice change from dragons, unlikely celebrities, cats or monuments of the entire world. Colour: light gold. Nose: oils, fresh almonds, pistachios, macadamia nuts… We love all that, but it can sometimes lead to a slightly tired palate, so let’s see… Mouth: but no, indeed it isn’t terribly powerful, yet the melon skins, fresh almonds, little apples and herbal teas are quite enough to make this admittedly fragile malt rather charming. Finish: short, on herbal tea and tea. Comments: this fragile little beauty drinks rather like a white wine. May I suggest scallops or sole meunière?
SGP:441 - 87 points.

Bruichladdich 22 yo 2002/2025 (54.1%, Dramfool, bourbon barrel, cask #1231, 122 bottles)

The very good people at Dramfool are great specialists in Bruichladdich including its more or less peated versions. Colour: pale gold. Nose: there is peat, it’s quite medicinal, but we shouldn’t forget that right at the beginning of the revival they were lightly peating their distillates, under Big Jim’s influence. With water: grapefruit and charcoal. Mouth (neat): this really is peated, it feels like pre-Port Charlotte, or perhaps already Port Charlotte? With water: mangoes and melons smoked over beechwood, or something along those lines. Finish: long and frankly peaty. Bitter oranges and charcoal in the aftertaste. Comments: there may be some misunderstanding here, but we certainly won’t deny that it is very, very good, nevertheless.
SGP:553 – 86 points.

We persist, naturally, this is Whiskyfun, isn’t it? …

Bruichladdich 13 yo 2011/2025 (61%, Dramfool, Middle Cut, bourbon barrel, cask #3203, 216 bottles)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: the barrel is doing the talking, with brioche, custard, and above all coconut sweets. With water: fresh baguette, coconut milk, fresh hay. Mouth (neat): coconut, lemon, bay leaves. The impact of the cask is maximal here. With water: melon and orange manage to rebalance things a little, but it remains very much about fresh oak. Finish: fairly long, woody, with plenty of black and green teas. The coconut returns in the aftertaste; it simply refuses to leave us alone. Comments: this really is great, you just have to enjoy twigs and coconut more than yours truly does.
SGP:651 - 80 points.

Bruichladdich 13 yo 2010/2024 (63%, Dramfool, Jim McEwan Signature Collection, Sauternes, release 9.1, cask #2329, 236 bottles)

An Yquem affair. There is strictly nothing in common between a great Sauternes such as Yquem and malt whisky, at least no more than there is between coffee and mustard. Or between Pavarotti and Duran Duran. Colour: gold. Nose: and yet it works. Smoked apricots, grape must, yeasts, muesli, sourdough. With water: touches of lavender. Mouth (neat): it’s good, fat, sweet-and-salty, with roasted apricots and honey. Lovely lemony tension. With water: little change, it’s saline and fairly bitter. Lemon peel. Finish: long, green, tart and bitter, but the honeyed apricot returns and carries the day. Comments: gentle madness, very emblematic of what was going on fifteen or twenty years ago.
SGP:561 - 83 points.

Bruichladdich 12 yo 2011/2023 (55.9%, Rest & Be Thankful for Navigate World Whisky, bourbon barrel)

Colour: white wine. Nose: we couldn’t possibly get any closer to the raw materials, starting with the barley, and it’s all wonderful. Rapeseed oil, melon skins. With water: light-coloured earth, limestone, fresh almonds, macadamia nuts. Mouth (neat): wonderfully fresh and pure. Lime, artichoke, green walnut. With water: the lemon takes control but does so with elegance and full awareness of the extent of its power. Right. Finish: long, precise, on barley, salt, walnuts… Comments: what sorcery is this? Everything is simple, even elementary, yet utterly beautiful.
SGP:551 - 89 points.

Quickly now…

Bruichladdich 17 yo 2006/2023 (59.1%, Rest & Be Thankful for Navigate World Whisky, ex-mourvèdre finish, cask #535)

Okay, we adore mourvèdre, the great red grape variety of Bandol, but it would never have occurred to us to mix it with malt whisky. Now we know they were having many casks, we’ve seen them. Colour: bronze gold. Nose: pistachio biscuit, genever, bay leaves, wine vinegar. Not an easy environment for malt. With water: some rather massive wafts of crushed black pepper. Mouth (neat): toffee, old Dutch genever, dark propolis, pepper, ristretto. It’s very nice indeed, but we’re moving a long way away from malt. With water: pepper, genever, cloves, all turned up to eleven. Extreme coffee. Finish: very long, very bitter, very much on the trio of spices we have just mentioned, plus coffee. Comments: sheer madness. Consequently, we rather like it, since life is so short.
SGP:262 - 85 points.

It is probably time for one very last one…

Bruichladdich 22 yo 2001/2024 (54.4%, Artful Dodger Whisky Collective, Sauternes, cask # R190200001, 275 bottles)

Let’s admit it, very long cask numbers, even six-digit ones (something like 3XX.XXX), are always a little worrying, but very often for no reasons. And the use of Sauternes casks at Bruichladdich is too, we insist, even if that sometimes works. Colour: amber gold. Nose: sulphur, leek, it’s a tad unpleasant, truth be told. With water: no way. Mouth (neat): burnt walnuts, sulphur, bitter pepper. With water: it doesn’t work any better. Finish: no better. Comments: this is frankly tough, but at least today we’ll have learnt that even a company as quality-minded and motivated as the fantastic Artful Dodger Collective can sometimes fail a wee bit. So, after all, they are human. To be precise, we were at the distillery when these casks were being delivered, and they were difficult, at any rate sulphured to death and, in theory, unusable. When you nosed the bung hole, you almost passed out. Yquem or no Yquem, they should have been thoroughly rinsed, perhaps even long-steamed. But try telling that to a very distinguished Ileach, charming certainly, but perhaps a little stubborn … Anyway, half the points are for the bottler’s overall quality, demonstrated once again just yesterday by a wonderful Caperdonich.
SGP:272 - 60 points.

All right, we’d better stop the slaughter. In the end, we haven’t had much natural Bruichladdich today, but we promise we’ll put that right at the first opportunity. Because Bruichladdich is a great distillate! Ex-bourbon or proper refill all the way... Stay tuned.

(KC, you rock)

Check the index of all Bruichladdich we've tasted