Inchmurrin 10 Berry Bros & Rudd

Back from vacation, back from drinking excessively, back in Canada where I’m used to the food.

So of course we went out to eat at an English pub in Toronto, Feather’s Pub[1] , as I could never have enough English (and Scottish and Welsh and etc.) food, and Feather’s does it right.

I’m a big fan of the review request thread. I think it’s a perfect place for answering the question “What should I try next?” Really interesting discussion and good people offering to try each dram… eventually.

I’ll get around to Drambuie 15 soon, I swear.

When I saw that someone (/u/rmill3r[2] ) had requested anything from Berry Bros & Rudd, I was lucky enough to currently be in the Official Berry Bros. & Rudd store in downtown London UK. Granted I saw the post 2 days later and wasn’t able to buy anything from Berry Bros. & Rudd as I had blown my Scotch budget, but I was still lucky to be there.

If you’ve never been, you have to stop in. Intelligent people, a rough though pretty shelving system in an old, almost warped building. It has character and then some. And a huge wine selection (and whisky/spirit selection). Not to mention historical artifacts that are pretty cool to see.

Anyway, back to the present (or rather the past). I saw that our local pub had a Berry Bros & Rudd in their cellar (awesome cellar, I should say), and as such I had to try the Inchmurrin 10 year Berry Bros & Rudd.

Inchmurrin is made at Loch Lomond, along with Loch Lomond, Glen Douglas, Old Rhosdhu, Craiglodge, Inchmoan, Croftengea and Inchfad. A lot of these are used in their blends, and they are very versatile in their flavours. That all said, they don’t normally put these out there as single malts, so trying one is quite rare.

Let’s see if this request was worth it.

Price: N/A in Ontario

Region: Highland

Abv:40%

Colour: Dull Brass (A muted orange/brown)

Nose: Salt water taffy, mace, green beans, light red berries, light pear, floral, lemon, brown sugar, celery salt, eventually opens up into coffee

Very sweet, earthy and bitter nose to this one. It opens up nicely, after awhile to just coffee (and no, no one was drinking a coffee near me).

Man I miss Coffee sometimes. Or just the ability to have it, I don’t really miss having it all the time, just to have some and some Sambuca or Irish Whisky or Bailey’s. So at least I have the nose on this, so that’s going well for me.

Taste: Brown sugar, light smoke, nutmeg, bland no-name pop rocks, honey, lemon

Very simple dram. Extremely simple. Basically after waiting for it to wake up and give me anything other than sweet, smoke, and bitter, it stayed the same. No extra coffee flavour (dammit Berry Bros! You too Rudd!) This is sleeping beauty, and I sure as shit am not the prince to wake it up.

Hmmm… that last sentence infers that putting me in the drink doesn’t help the flavour. I stand by that statement. Actually, I’ll go a step further: Don’t add me (or anything that comes from me) to whisky or any other drink, as it won’t improve the flavour. Ever.

Finish: Mint, eucalyptus, taffy, light amber maple syrup, basil, apple

It’s very herbal at the end, which is a nice way to finish, however it’s still really, really simple. Grass + Sweet + Acid, nuff said.

Also, using the above formula will create an Oasis album, in case you were wondering.

Conclusion: Not a bad malt, though pretty simple. I think it would be a perfect way to wade into Independent bottlings. Great nose, no colouring, and non-chill filtered. Also it’s not a typical single malt that you see at a bar. That said, it’s suffering from being only 40%, and it’s really quite simple. I’d recommend if you’re looking for an affordable dram from Berry Bros. & Rudd, you’d be hard pressed to find one that isn’t just fine and as inexpensive.

76/100

Scotch review #110, Highland #18, Whisky Network review #142