This Bruichladdich is classic or rather should I say unclassic as it has spent it's entire life of 16 years in a Bourbon cask. Classic because this is the way most whisky since the 1940's has traditionally matured. Unclassic because it has been fashionable at a lot of distilleries- for better or worse to often finish whisky in casks other than Bourbon casks. Bottled at Bruichladdich's traditional 46%abv.

Bruichladdich (pronounced Bruck-laddy) is a fiercely independent Islay distillery, and is managed by one of the whisky worlds best known characters - Jim McEwan. On the west side of Loch Indaal, facing Bowmore, the distillery has had a chequered history. Closed in 1993 and then worked for just six weeks in 1998, it wasn't until 2001 that distilling restarted seriously when it was reopened by the new owners, Bruichladdich Distillery Company. Originally it produced peaty Islay malts then in the 1960's it switched to an unpeated style, and the malt kiln was dismantled (it is hoped that this will be re instated in the passage of time, as will a Lomond still). Bruichladdich now produce whisky with a variety of peating levels and styles in their own inimitable way. The distillery is Islay's largest employer.