[Review] Bruichladdich - Super Heavily Peated 2002/2003 Savchenko Family 46%

Back into my samples tonight with something rather unusual as it is a sample of Super Heavily Peated Bruichladdich bottled in 2009 for the Savchenko Family Connoisseurs Club of Whisky in Ukraine. It is a vatting of 4 casks, 1 ex-sherry cask distilled in 2002 and 3 ex-bourbon casks distilled in 2003. What is particular about it is that Bruichladdich no longer produce peated whisky under their own name but rather use the Port Charlotte or Octomore branding for any peated release. Because this single malt is peated at 79PPM, we could pretty much consider it the father of Octomore!

Having looked online for more information about the bottle, it is not one you will see a lot around. The main page on which I found some information is the Whiskyauctioneer page which had one for sale in its past auctions, not much else apart from that.
Picture from whiskyauctioneer

Picture from whiskyauctioneer

This Super Heavily Peated Laddie was bottled unchill-filtered and with its natural colour at 46% abv. The colour is quite dark for a 6 years old.

Nose: Earthy and phenolic. Octomore-ish with a fair amount of peat (79PPM after all!) I can smell the 46%. Malt notes and some general sweetness in the background but I don't really get the 1/4 sherry cask in the dram.

Palate: Thick and oily, peat and smoke, some bitter and citric notes hit you early on transitioning to some more peaty sweetness with barley notes.

Finish: Malted barley, peat, dry ash, a hint of salt and some rubbery notes too. Not as long as I was expecting though...

With water: The nose gets more peat and sweetness, the palate is sweeter again and the bitterness is not as forward as it is without water, in my opinion the flavours are more balanced with a few drops of H2O. The finish still gets a lot of peat-smoked barley.


All in all it is a very enjoyable experience for peat lovers as, like its name mentions, this Laddie is a Heavily Peated dram which might make you understand Octomore's DNA a bit better... And despite some peripheral sweetness, the phenols are definitely the stars of the show in this one!


Finally I must thank my friend Matt once again for the opportunity to try such a different and unusual Bruichladdich!



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