Penny for Your Thoughts - Bruichladdich Classic Laddie, Hibiki Harmony, Macallan Edition No. 2
- Dec 13, 2017
- 3 min read
Here are a few of the loose ends and new drams that I've tried over this holiday season. Merry Christmas!
Bruichladdich Classic Laddie (50% ABV) - Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain, along with being the hardest-to-spell distilleries on Islay, are also the only two distilleries on the island that focus on unpeated single malts. Classic Laddie is one of the basic expressions offered by the distillery, and comes in at a healthy ABV and in a non-chill filtered state, both of which are a plus for purists. Now if only they would own up to its actual age, which I'm assuming is under 10 years given the lack of an age statement. I find Bruichladdich's distillate pulls a lot of unusual flavors out of their barrels, and this scotch is no different. The signature brine and mineral scents of an Islay single malt swirl out of the glass, accompanied by some heather or floral musk, incense, and sweet honey. The palate appears at times to have a mild smokiness that belies its unpeated nature. The core notes are chalk, iodine, grapefruit, and brine, reminding me of a very lightly peated Talisker or Ardbeg. The finish has some hints of youth but remains pleasant, with flavors of grapefruit, ginger, and pepper. At $50-60, this is one of the better values in the Bruichladdich range. B+
Macallan Edition No. 2 (48.2% ABV) - Luxury brand collaborations make me nervous, really nervous. Too often, nothing good comes out of two luxury empires combining their prestige to sell a sub-standard product unworthy of both companies (see the Porsche, Aston Martin, Bentley, etc. crossovers with the mechanical wristwatch world). Macallan's Edition series therefore made me a bit apprehensive when I heard the concept. One of the finest scotch distilleries in the world, working with specialists from other disciplines (perfume, food), sounds promising to some, but I feared that the result would just be double the marketing and half the product quality. Happily, Edition No. 2, which is a collaboration between Macallan and the Spanish chefs behind one of the world's most renowned restaurants (Celler de Can Roca), actually lives up to the hype. The nose of this whisky is more captivating than Rare Cask, which is triple the price. I'm brought back to the ice cream shop where I worked after senior year of high school, with caramel ice cream sandwiched between some graham crackers. After a whiff or two, I'm also getting some chocolate syrup drizzled on top. There is a pleasant, rich oak presence throughout the nose, which acts as a frame for this well-integrated and harmonious bouquet. The sherry influence here doesn't produce the standard dark fruit flavors that one would expect, but instead exudes an alluring, almost bourbon-like richness. The palate features some of the best balance in a sherried whisky I've experienced: cherry syrup with a slightly medicinal tinge, complex fruit (some orange, some peach, some pear, some apple), and loads of aromatic wood and piquant wood spices. The 5% ABV jump between the Rare Cask and this expression also produces better mouthfeel, as Edition No. 2 is thick and substantial. The finish is not quite as long as I'd hope, so mark it down as this whisky's main flaw, but it's a good, creamy combination of sherry fruit, taro, and candied ginger. Although I'm not the biggest fan of the distillery as a whole, this is the best Macallan I've tried. This shows up online for under $100, where it is surprisingly good value, particularly relative to some of the stratospheric prices that Macallans can command. A-
Hibiki Harmony (43%) - This is one of the few affordable Japanese whiskies left on the market at around $65-70, although the cost of its availability and affordability is the lack of an age statement. Formerly, the renowned Hibiki line featured age-stated malts, including a 12-year old and the legendary 21-year old (which I'll review later this month). I loved the floral nose of this dram, which immediately strikes me as feminine and lovely. Hibiki's closest analog in the scotch world may be Balblair, with which it shares pronounced scents of vanilla cream and oak. Harmony has a mellow, classic Japanese whiskey taste, and the influence from the Yamazaki single malt blended in here is prominent. I taste rose, honey, cream (again, similar to Balblair), and a very delicate sherry note. That sherry flavor and influence grew over time as the dram was exposed to the air, which was an interesting transformation. Given the lightness and fragile beauty of the flavors, I believe that 43% ABV actually is the right, light ABV for this dram -- and that's something I rarely say of whiskey. The finish features toasted oak spices, malt, and tobacco, and is relatively short, which is Harmony's most obvious flaw. B+
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