Outside of Octomore, I’ve never had a Bruichladdich. Strange that after almost 300 whiskies not one has been part of the standard lineup of this Islay distillery. Well tonight I remedied that thanks to @LeeEvolved and his generosity. Bere Barley is all about locally grown Islay barley. Bottled at 50% ABV and is non chill filtered and natural color of pale straw. The nose is very malty and cereal forward. Lemon citrus, which I had noticed in so many single malts a few months ago and then suddenly it was gone, and now back again. Vanilla cream, ginger and nutmeg. Light oak, a distant coffee note and light toffee. Not much complexity to be found here. After adding a generous amount of water...nothing. Not much change at all except maybe a little creamier and perhaps some lime leaves. The palate is rather harsh with lots of heat that builds quickly. Malty, oak, lemon and a light apple note. Harsh overall. With water much of the heat still remains and nothing new comes forth. A medium bodied mouthfeel that is lightly oily and mouth coating with heat. The finish is medium length with heat, cereal malt and light oak. Well this was quite the boring dram. Nothing really going on, but that may have been done intentionally. I suspect that refill and third fill casks were used in an attempt to impart as little influence over the new make spirit as possible in order to showcase the special barley varietal. Unfortunately that resulted in a rather forgettable dram. At close to $90 it’s also quite pricy for what you get. So I’d recommend not bothering with this one if tempted to try something new. 2.75 Cheers