Bruichladdich Resurrection 2001

One of my favourite things that popped up all of the UK was the idea of “Drams of the Month/Day/Moment”. Nothing says “Hey, we are putting in effort” like choosing an interesting dram and having information about it. Not to mention it gives new to whisky people new drams to try. Also it tells me that someone in the bar actually knows what they are talking about, or at least has the ovaries to express their opinion. That’s gutsy and shows moxy, so I likes it.

So after doing two review requests from this sub, I decided I’d go with the Feather’s Pub[1] recommendation for this month, the Bruichladdich Resurrection 2001.

This dram is a celebration bottling from the distiller. It was the first distilled by Jim McEwan using their traditional way. It is lightly peated (10 ppm) and will not be repeated… which given that it’s Bruichladdich I doubt, since they release 12 new bottles every time a baby laughs, however for now I’m just glad I got to try this unique, never to be done again, first try as there’s only 24,000 bottles of it made.

Let’s see if this is a new gimmick (see past reviews at the bottom).

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Islay

Abv: 46%

Colour: Orange wood (so a brown that’s somewhat light and has parts of orange. Think of a proper picture of Mars)

Nose: Honey, soft peat, cherry, vanilla, peach juice, iodine

Very sweet nose, and I like it. It’s like a softer Uigendail, or a ballsier Glenfarclas, or maybe like smoking a cherry pie.

Note to self: Smoke a cherry pie

Taste: Peat, iodine, shortbread, cherry, banana, mint

The peat isn’t taking over here.

Why is it that most places can’t get “light peat”, and this one has figured it out. If you’ve read either of my Ardbeg Blasda[2] or Caol Ila Moch[3] reviews, you’ll know that I wasn’t the biggest fan. The peat was gone, yet nothing stepped up to fill the role that it originally added. And this does it so much better.

Seriously, if you take away the peat from something, or lightly peat it, DO SOMETHING ELSE WITH IT! Case in point, there’s fruitiness, sweetness, a little earth, iodine, and even a buttery, crumbly taste. Yeah, there’s still Peat, but not as much, so you can amp this shit up!

Well, that hit a nerve. Moving on…

Finish: Peat, chocolate, vanilla, pepper, sweet grass, raisin, currents, toffee

The finish is even better than the taste. Very sweet, though there’s earthy elements that pop about on your tongue. Also it’s still quite strong flavoured, which I both like and dislike. Hard to tell, I’m having one of those “moments”.

Conclusion: All in all, this comes off as something that you’d think would be a gimmick, and then isn’t, and it’s a really nice, low peated Scotch. Seriously, they were able to bring out all these nice, different notes throughout. Is it the most complex dram ever? No, and the finish can be kinda strong. But I’d still probably buy a bottle, as it’s certainly better than other low peat offerings.

84/100

Scotch review #112, Islay review #32, Whisky Network review #144

1001 Whiskies to taste before you die review #82