Another new-ish Laddie from this year, this uses Bere Barley, for those of you not quite familiar with this strain of barley : Bere barley is a heritage variety of barley that never quite reached peak popularity with farmers or distillers, owing to its low yield.
Bere Barley never made the ‘recommended growing list’ for farmers, and so sowing the seed fell out of fashion. The ancient landrace would have been all but lost if it were not for the resurrection mission forged by the Barony Mill with the helping hand of the Orkney College (UHI Agronomy Institute). This 2011 vintage of whisky, distilled from the six-row grain grown on Orkney in the summer of 2010.
Bere is Britain’s oldest strain of cultivated cereal and would have been the grain used by Scotland’s early distillers through distant centuries.
In the 20th century, however, an emphasis on efficiency and commercial return encouraged the pursuit of yield over flavor – varieties that would produce the biggest, easiest crop and greatest extract.
Always champions of flavor, we’ve been working with the University of the Highlands and Islands’ Agronomy Institute since 2005 to reintroduce Bere barley to the distilling of single malt whisky.
Bere is a hardy grain, adapted to poor soil conditions and a short growing season with long hours of daylight – that’s to say, the summer sun of the more extreme northern latitudes. In early trials, Bere proved so tough and resilient that it broke Bruichladdich’s milling machine, and it took time and patience to understand how to get the best from this enigmatic traditional grain.
The 2010 crop of Bere, distilled in 2011, was grown and supplied by the Agronomy Institute of Orkney College (UHI) in partnership with Magnus Spence (The Northfield, Burray) and Sydney Gauld (Quoyberstane, St Ola).
In total, the team in Orkney battled the difficult growing conditions on 5 different farms over the growing season, Quoyberstane, Muddisdale and Weyland & Watersfield in St Ola, and Northfield and Westermill on Burray.
Bruichladdich Bere Barley 2011 , 50% abv , £75 (Laddie Webshop)
Nose: A laddie from the first sniff – It has that wee lactic note and laddie funk, you can smell it from a mile (for better and worse, depends on where you stand on Laddie profile), quite malty and cereal, with bread, and pastries, some floral notes to it as well, as in spring blossom (think oranges, lemons), very creamy with very clear ex-bourbon notes, then some orchard fruit and mint. fresh, and very ‘clean’.
Palate: fresh-baked bread with apricot & orange jam spread, maybe a hint of marmite, citrusy and creamy with milk chocolate, wood spices, and dried bananas, lots of barley sugar going on, with the pastries and fruit playing nicely, the lactic aromas are gone.
Finish: The finish is less fruit and sweet, and more coastal with some salty notes, olive brine, bitter oak and a hint of wax.
Conclusion: A very well-made 10-year-old whisky, Bruichladdich fans will certainly appreciate how clean and well made it is. Bere Barley has certainly something different about it, and this is a fine exemplar. If you like your Laddies unpeated: this one’s worth getting.