UPDATE: New Barrel Announcement

If you read the earlier post below, you'll see that we are bringing in a very special cask, but these guys were so good about getting the pricing ready that we can already add it to our pre-arrival campaign.  So, here it is - live and for sale with a ten dollar discount if you order in advance!

1994 Bruichladdich 16 Year Old K&L Exclusive Single Ardbeg Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky - PRE-ARRIVAL $99.99 - One of our good-natured business deals from Scotland ended up providing us with the chance to secure a single barrel of something quite special and unbelievably rare - an unpeated Islay whisky aged inside the cask of another peated Islay whisky!  This 16 year old Bruichladdich spent its first 13 years in hogshead, lending it the standard vanilla and sweet grains the malt is known for.  For the last 3 years however it sat soaking up the flavor from a barrel which had formerly held some super-smoky Ardbeg whisky.  The residue left inside the wood was enough to turn a mild-mannered Bruichladdich into something smoky and aggressive.  Very light in color, the nose is a combo of fresh malted barley and vegetal peat moss aromas.  The palate is lean and mean with spicy pepper and wisps of smoke meandering in between the salty vanilla notes inherent in the malt itself.  The finish is all peat smoke, but it's an unfamiliar smoke - not peated Bruichladdich, but not Ardbeg either.  As a fan of both distilleries, I find this marriage of the two styles exciting and utterly fascinating. This will be a big hit with Islay fans and collectors everywhere.

NOTE: This is not an offical Bruichladdich bottling.  We are sourcing this from an independent source.  ETA of arrival is 11/15/11

-David Driscoll