PBMichiganWolverine
Bruichladdich Bere Barley 2008 Islay Grown: Dunlossit Estate
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
February 1, 2019 (edited February 10, 2021)
You ever feel that sometimes you concentrate on the wrong things, and end up missing the bigger picture? There’s this video on YouTube, search under “miss the gorilla while ball is passed”. You’re gazing at this ball being passed around so much that you end up missing a huge gorilla pounding his chest right in the middle of the action. You know...sort of like concentrating on the Great Southern Wall while China whoops our ass in the next gen technology. Defunding education and giving teachers low wages while India and Singapore produce the next generation of the brightest minds. Trying to dig for coal while Russia ups the game in cyber threat security. Yeah...that type of loss of focus. This little beauty here, courtesy of my buddy @LeeEvolved, had you looking at the fact that the barley is a six row instead of two ( or vice versa..whatever ), and that it’s locally grown in an Islay farm. Conjures up romantic images of the locally produced good being better than a mass produced ( which in many cases...yes). But I sort of felt the romanticism was lost by the fact that this was middle of road, a bit young , and just a tad harsh. Nothing a few more years in the barrel couldn’t have solved. Light lemon drops, some cereals, and oranges on the palette. Not bad, but nothing to make it stand out considering the micro-provenance of the ingredients. The moral of the story? Focus. And keep the long view.
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@1901 Hmm sounds a bit like of the scottish version of the worm in a bottle. Would be interesting to see what impact it has on the flavour.
@PBMichiganWolverine @Soba45 there was also Celp - an IB of an Islay single malt with a sprig of seaweed inside it.
@PBMichiganWolverine Ah you have to love the world these days. Think about it and someone's already done it! I await your review..haha :-)
@Soba45 the US state of Maine actually has a craft distillery that has that. I think it’s Fifty Stones. Available in Maine only. Sounds interesting to try
@1901 That would be an interesting experience...although given they closed sounds like not to many repeat customers. :-). Smoked seaweed barley whiskey would be interesting...
@SolanaRoots i wonder if this was an earlier experiment. I just read reviews on the Octomore 9 series. The 9.2 ( or 9.3?) is also micro-provenance. They seemed to have hit a home run with that
@PBMichiganWolverine Outstanding review and agree they’re on the right track. While this bottle hasn’t garnered favorable reviews, there’s been plenty of plaudits for the Islay Barley 2009, Islay Barley 2010, & The Organic 2009 bottles. Seems more hits than misses
@PBMichiganWolverine yep, just as @arcarey says it is IrishAmerican whiskey. They got stills brought over from Speyside which are working away now since end of last year I think.
@1901 Have a look in YouTube - search: IrishAmerican Whiskey Achill Island Distillery ... looks great.
@1901 nice! Does that whiskey distillery exist today? What’s the name?
@Soba45 that reminds me of the brewery some distant relatives of mine set up on Achill Island. The beer was flavoured with locally gathered seaweed - a unique ingredient, but the beer didn’t sell well locally and it’s out of business. There’s now a whiskey distillery in that premises, so every cloud...
Good review :-). Yeah it's like a lot of the fancy craft beer which ate even worse as they can churn them out 100 times faster. So many interesting flavours on paper but in reality..
@LeeEvolved i honestly think they were on the right track, and probably corrected this with that new Octomore offering that is all locally done. One of the 9 series I think. That is supposedly very good and highlights the local ingredients well. Like the Springbank Local Barley series
Great points (and review). I feel this way a lot of times about the “drink local” movement. Why spend money on subpar products just because the owner might be your neighbor? Making a great product will bring the revenue in, not relying on your neighbors to support your hobby-turned-business. Lol