Bruichladdich 40 year old single malt whisky is the oldest Bruichladdich ever bottled by the distillery. Only 500 bottles are available worldwide. This single malt whisky has been personally selected by Jim McEwan, Bruichladdich's famed Master Distiller, from outstanding fresh Bourbon casks that were filled in 1964. Bottled at 43.1% alcohol by volume, the malt whisky is not only distilled and matured on Islay but bottled there too. It is non chill-filtered for fuller flavour, and caramel free - just as nature intended. A truly outstanding and collectable single malt whisky from this unique distillery.

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.

Tasting note by Jim McEwan

Fulsome, rich and exceedingly elegant with a smooth clover honey texture. Sensuous fragrances of butterscotch and mint, maple syrup and oak, candied almonds. Sweet dark vanilla, poached pear and cinnamon - lots of fantastic combinations.

Soft pear and mandarin orange aromas. The yellow sherbert tingle from 40 years of maturation on the wild Atlantic Coast.

The concentration of toasted oak bursts onto the palate with a rush of heat but slows down and turns mellow and magical. The mouthfeel is succulent soft fudge and exotic yellow fruits with a twist of lime and grapefruit, and is sublimely smooth.

Wine Match - As smooth, complex, decadent, as the outrageously glorious Graham 1945

Only 500 bottles were filled.