Straight from the still, at zero age, even in this nascent state before the whisky has had a chance to mature, whiskies distilled from different barley varieties are identifiable one from the other.

Just as an eau-de-vie distilled from Framboise differs from one distilled from Poire, so do spirits produced from various barleys.

Some varieties nose more overtly different to others, for example Bere from Optic. Others are much more subtle.

Bruichladdich uses around 12  barley varieties (2011 harvest) from which its whisky is disitlled, including heritage favourites such as Golden Promise, as well as the latest on the market.

Barley varieties are developed primarily for their disease resistance and yield improvements, as well as taste.

To us at Bruichladdich, these flavour differences are an important extra dimension both for the diversity of our maturing stocks and the complexity of our bottlings.