Scotch Rocked

A provocative  new whisky concept – The Designer Single Malt -  set to challenge several long-held industry beliefs is introduced by Bruichladdich, the innovating, privately-owned, Islay distillery.

A Champagne-influenced single malt, aged in French wine casks that can be drunk on ice in summertime are as much a heresy to whisky traditionalists as the Constitution is to Norman Tebbit –  but here they make up Bruichladdich’s ‘Designer Single Malt’ concept. 

Deluxe Champagne houses have long known the benefit of  putting several vintages together;  a vertical-integration known there as Non-Vintage - or more precisely  Multi-Vintage – to produce ultimate complexity.

MD Mark Reynier: “Remi Krug once told me of the difference between creating a vintage and a multi-vintage Champagne: “In a single vintage, God alone is responsible for the outcome. But with a multi vintage, I am playing God”

But it also means deliberately  forfeiting the traditional age statement – for some the sole arbiter of quality, for others a pretentious show-off.

The Bruichladdich Rocks cuvee was specifically designed by Master Distiller Jim McEwan (three times Distiller of the Year) as one of three Designer Malt Cuvées  each with its own specific identity.

Jim McEwan: “this is not factory-produced whisky. I wanted to design a whisky that reflected the rugged  beauty of this island where I have lived all my life, one with a rainbow of aromas,  to  show the  true artistry of  distilling. My inspiration? Where the oldest rocks in Scotland  meet the wild Atlantic ocean.”

“Unfettered by the constraints of a single vintage I have used the best characteristics of several contrasting years. This freedom allows greater complexity. I never thought I could actively recommend drinking a single malt with ice… but with Bruichladdich Rocks you most definitely can. Being small and quality-driven,  we like to innovate.”

After maturing in Bourbon casks, to further confound the traditionalists, Grenache wine casks from the Banyuls region of south west France were used to add  fruit nuances after a short period of refinement.

The strength at bottling is reduced to 46% with ultra-pure Islay spring water, filtered through the  1800 million year old rocks that the distillery stands on, the oldest  in the entire industry.

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