Bruichladdich Black Art 1989 03.1 Edition 22 Year

If you are lucky enough to try this whisky, make sure you’re able to spend some good quality time with it. This is a whisky that demands your attention and the longer you sit with it, the more you can pick out from it. That being said, its also a whisky that you can sit down with and enjoy without getting overly analytical. Now onto the review: This a nose that just keeps evolving and unfolding. Initial nosing reveals notes of cherries, prunes, honey, walnuts, musty oak, dark preserved oranges, dried apricots, raisins, molasses, a bit of a maritime quality of sand and sea breeze, and the barest hint of smoke. As you continue to spend time with it, you can begin to pickup overripe pears, peppery notes, maybe hints of vermouth, chocolate, and caramel. Going in for the taste, you get all of the notes from the nose before it continues to unfold into dark sugars, dark fruits, fortified wines like port and sherry, hints of red wine, a bit of a French oak-type spiciness and nuttiness, deep rich notes of oak mixed with spices like ginger and nutmeg. This is an unbelievably complex, interesting, and downright amazing whisky. It’s expensive, but if you’re able, it’s worth every penny. Goddamned spectacular! Got this for 50 USD for a pour.

Nose - Dark dried pitted fruits, hint of saline, hint of barrel aged pear cider, muscat grapes, toasted oak. Taste - Dried prunes/cherry sweet, dark oiled leather, sweet spicy tobacco, sea salt, white pepper heat, black pepper spice, dark fruitcake, sweet muscato or riesling sweetness. Finish - Lingering sweet spicky dark stone fruit sweetness, white pepper heat lingers with black pepper spice, barrel aged dark apple/pear cider, toasted apple peels. Score - 91/100 Final Thoughts - This is quite a tasty dram. Very complex on the nose, nothing offensive, smells and tastes very "dark" and "bold." It's a very nice balance between dark stone fruit sweet and what I get in the background as a moscato or late harvest riesling sweet. A very nice balance with a great finish and great mouthfeel. My guess is that there's a mixture of some toasted french oak casks, port casks, and maybe some moscato or sweeter wine casks in the mixture. Compared to the BA4.1, this one is a bit darker in sweet profile as I get more fresh berry sweet in that one. I'm really glad I had a chance to try this one as it's a delicious dram throughout.

Earthy wet oak, red wine, cherry, port, honey, raisins, chocolate, sherry