Bruichladdich Organic Barley 2012 10-Years-Old

 Bruichladdich Organic Barley 2012 10-Year-Old

Bruichladdich Organic Barley 2012	Data Sheet
Barcode	505580747020
Distillery Owners	Remy Cointreau UK Limited
Release Year	2022
Price	£85 in the UK
Alcohol Percentage (abv)	50%
Bottle Volume (cl)	70
Cask Maturation	Ex-Bourbon Barrels
Non-Chill-Filtered	Yes
Natural Colour	Yes
Kashrus Status	No Kashrus issues*
Kashrus certification	None

* But there was an extraordinary and quite worrying incident which took place. Read on…

Introduction

Note: For those who want an introduction to Bruichladdich distillery, be it a few years old now, see my review of the Bruichladdich Islay Barley Rockside Farm 2007.

The Bruichladdich Core-Range

Laddie Series (Unpeated)  

Organic / Bare Barley Series (Unpeated)

Port Charlette (Peated)

Octomore (Super Heavy Peated)

(Left) Old Bottle shape.

Bruichladdich is one of my all-time favourite distilleries and whenever I’m on Islay, I always pay them a visit. Everything they produce is pretty much excellent and comes with the highest “Integrity” credentials. What’s more, they are professional, transparent and friendly both on social media and in person at the distillery. So, you might ask, why is it that the last time I reviewed a Bruichladdich was way back in 2018?

Well, not that I want to whine on about it, but the distillery has for the past few years, been mixing in a percentage of wine casks into almost their entire core-range. Even those expressions which can be described as “Bourbon Barrel” forward, still include a small percentage of Ex-Wine casks in the final vatting, including the entire “Laddie” and Port Charlotte series.

Of course, they still produce the Super Peated annual release of Octomore X.1. (Currently we are up to 16.1 for 2025). These X.1s are 100% Ex-Bourbon matured and available here in Israel, all be it for some 30% more than the price of in the UK, which is not exactly cheap there in the first place. There are also various versions of annual releases of the Organic Barley and special barley types, which are often 100% Ex-Bourbon with, Baruch Hashem, only a few exceptions. These are unfortunately not available in Israel.

As my regular readers know, I produce an up-to-date list of all official bottlings of Scotch Single Malt Whisky that contain no maturation in Ex-Sherry / Wine / Port / Brandy or any other wine-based cask. (In a very few cases, I might include a Single Malt that has less than 10% Old Refill Ex-Sherry casks, with the approval of the Rabbonim. These few entries will have a double Asterix after their name to denote this).

Before adding one of these Bruichladdich Organic Barley or Bare Barley editions to my list I have to do some rigorous checking and not just from one source.

So, for this Organic Barley 2012, not only did I check the cask type information on the official Bruichladdich website but on a recent YouTube "Inverurie Whisky Shop" Live Stream where he was being interviewed, I had the opportunity to ask the distillery’s Master Blender, Adam Hannett which of their expressions had no sherry / wine maturation. This Organic Barley 2012 was one of the ones he mentioned, and he did indeed confirm that it was 100% Ex-Bourbon Barrel matured.

Mike Stuart, the host of the YouTube Live Stream mentioned that he highly recommended the Organic 2012 10-Year-Old from 2022.

Being that I hadn’t had a non-peated Bruichladdich for ages, I decided to order this online with a view to reviewing it. I purchased a bottle from a popular whisky specialist shop on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and had it delivered to my door in Israel. The package arrived within a few days.

A Bit of a Bruichladdich Scare

I opened the bottle one Thursday evening. Whilst I was assessing the aroma of this Bruichladdich for the first time (and very much enjoying it), I perused all the text on its label. It was only when I got round to reading the fourth column of text that I stopped dead in my tracks.

I could not believe my eyes. About ¾ of the way down it read:

Matured in Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Wine casks!!!

As it happened, one of the nosing notes I’d written down was Chardonnay white wine. I have to admit, I was not a little unsettled.

The following Sunday I wrote to my contact in Bruichladdich and asked her about this inconsistency between the website and the bottle label. Obviously, I was not expecting an immediate reply as Sunday in Scotland is a national holiday. Unlike in England, Scotland takes its Sundays a bit more seriously (despite many distilleries being open to visitors for tours on that day). In any case, the distillery’s administrative office would be closed.

Monday afternoon I finally received a reply. Upon reading the answer I let out a huge sigh of relief and a loud “Baruch Hashem”, and promptly wrote a thank you to the guys at the distillery for a such a prompt, clear and unambiguous response.

How amazing! It’s rare that you come across an error like this on a whisky label. In fact, many whisky enthusiasts will tell you to ignore what they state on the website. It’s only the information on the bottle label that counts. Well, in this case, the label was wrong!

The last time I remember something similar was around 10 years ago when I was browsing the Tomintoul special Edition bottlings in the Whistle Castle shop in Tomintoul, when I actually came across a Tomintoul 15-Year-Old Port Cask with, would you believe, an OU certification on the back label!

Whilst still in the shop, I immediately contacted the OU and sent them a series of photos. I'm sorry to say that the OU's response was rather unhelpful. They seemed almost irritated that I had enquired about this issue, so I decided to conduct my own investigation.

Due to an excellent relationship with Robert Fleming, the distillery manager at Tomintoul, that I'd built up over a period of years, it only took a few emails backwards and forwards over the next few minutes to establish that this was a printing error. Apparently, the graphics designer had taken a back label from a kosher expression and used it as the blueprint for this label, except, he’d neglected to remove the kashrus certification! Whoops! Robert promised to withdraw the bottles from the shop. He was extremely apologetic. I told him that these things happen and thanked him for his quick response. I thereupon informed the OU as to what had happened. I did eventually receive a belated response from them.

Anyway, as far as this Bruichladdich Organic Barley 2012 was concerned, panic over!

 

Bruichladdich Green Credentials on the Organic Barley Edition and Antisemitism

According to MasterOfMalt.com webpage:

“Mid Coul farm is close to Inverness in the north of Scotland and has been growing organic barley for the Islay distillery since 2003 on its progressive 2,755-acre estate. The site boasts a closed-loop fertility system that generates electricity using an anaerobic digester. Almost all waste material is recycled as fertiliser, while the barley is sustainably farmed without agrochemicals, fertilisers, or pesticides and supports the soil it was grown in”.

To tell you the truth, I’m much more interested in Bruichladdich’s flavour and Integrity credentials than their “Green” ones. “Green” for many Jews these days, has frankly become a bit of a dirty word ever since many of their organisations have seemingly been highjacked by Muslim Jihadi Jew hating fanatics and are being run by “progressive” left-wing socialist anti-Semites.

It’s simply amazing and G-d only knows how many of the leading Climate Activists have managed to form a link in their brains between environmental issues and hatred of Jews and Israel. Baruch Hashem, at least in my experience, the “Green” push amongst many distilleries in the Highlands and islands of Scotland don't seem to come with an antisemitic element to it, at least for the most part. I am happy to say that I have never encountered any blatant antisemitism in Scotland although there were some occasions where staff were a bit cold or overly-business like, which is very unusual in Scotland and might possibly not have been due to him or her getting out of the wrong side of the bed that morning.

My own personal experience has been that almost all the so called “Palestine Rights” brainwashed, terrorist flag waving mob are situated in the Lowlands of Scotland, Glasgow and Argyll region. The further north you go, the more Jewish friendly the Scots get.

Bruichladdich Packaging and Artwork

Box / Canister

No box or canister came with this bottle. (This is due to Environmental concerns).

The Bottle

It’s the first Bruichladdich I’ve bought with the new bottle shape. I liked the old bottle design but this new one is, in my opinion even better with a slightly more unique shape. It certainly stands out on the shelf which is one of the main objectives of a new design after all.

However, I did notice a number of online commenters “hating” on this new bottle. One person on whiskybase.com described it thus: “The bottle shape is a disaster.”. A disaster? I wonder what he means by that? Is it difficult to hold or to pour? Does he think that the design is too generic? Is it an ugly shape? I’d say a resounding “No” to all these questions, so I simply have no idea what he (and others), are talking about.

The Cork Stopper

Big chunky high quality cork stopper. The top is solid plastic made to look like black wood.

The cork part is a composite now rather than a genuine chunk of cork which they used to use.

Genuine cork often comes with cracks and holes. On the other hand, the composite cork, made from a mixture of cork powder and resin, might possibly be more prone to crumbling and drying out, leading to the cork stopper breaking off.

The Label

The label almost covers the entire circumference of the bottle and consists of no less than five separate columns of text. That’s just crazy. The label resembles a mini newspaper article.

The QR-Code

The label includes a QR-Code that instead of taking you to a data sheet of the edition as has been the case in the past, it actually takes you to a very sleek looking video on the Bruichladdich website about a completely different whisky, the Bruichladdich X4+18 Edition 01. I have to admit that I found this rather annoying and this QR-Code could possibly be another label error.

The same video is available on YouTube here.

Measured Abv Percentage

I measured 48% abv on my Portable ATC Alcohol Refractometer with a room temperature of 21 Degrees Celsius.

Bruichladdich Organic Barley 2012 10-Years-Old - The Review

Appearance

A gloriously dirty gold colour.

Rolling this Organic Barley around in my Glencairn Copita glass, there are clear thick and oily blobs of alcohol that cling to the inside of the glass. Swirling the liquid around in the glass gives the impression of a whisky full of long chain fatty acids and other flavour giving elements.

A very impressive visual presentation and a promise of more goodness to come.

Aroma

I added a few drops of water and left the dram to settle for 10 minutes before nosing.

First impressions were off the scale. (This was particularly gratifying after the disappointing Fettercairn 22 review).

Big and beefy. Heavy barley oil.

Vanilla cream biscuits and wet oak.

The smell of a barley field by the sea, just after a rain shower.

Minerally. Wet pebbles. There’s also a hint of coastal sea spray.

(Simply wonderful! I could carry on smelling this for ages).

Barley cereal porridge and sugar.

Buttery Oaked fresh light Chardonnay.

Fatty Beef sausages and Malty Oak Cakes.

Shortcrust pastry with vanilla custard topping.

A sprinkling of caster sugar.

Stewed Pears and sultanas and earthy honey.

Salted Caramelised Almonds.

There’s something stinky (but nice), in the background.

A whiff of the inside of an old copper kettle in the background, obviously coming from the copper stills and condensers. I love it!

A beautiful balance of fresh luscious yellow fruits and soft oaky spices in the background.

The smell of fresh clean clothes just out of the washing machine.

A jug of cut flowers in water.

This is an absolute masterclass in whisky making.

Mouth Feel

Chewy, full bodied and sugary sweet oily seaweed.

Taste

Some earthy honey.

Not apples as such but sweet Apple Cider Scrumpy flavours.

Sweet Malty Apple Vinegar.

Almonds and Hazelnuts in Sea Salt.

Chewy Breakfast Cereal bars.

Peach and Vanilla Meringue Pie with pastry.

Vanilla Sponge cake with a drizzling of vanilla icing and honey. (Sorry, I’ve already mentioned the honey, haven’t I!).

There’s a dirty copper note to it, which is perfectly proportioned and acts as a counterpoint to all the sweet sugary flavours.

Wet pebbles, Fresh Coconut and soft oak.

 

Finish

Lovely medium finish with a perfect balance of briny fruity sweetness.

It’s one of those dangerous whiskies because as soon as you’ve emptied the glass, you are very tempted to pour another.

 

Conclusion

I’ve seen some people complaining that £85 is expensive for a 10-Year-Old, even one as special as this which comes with an Organic Certification. (Shame it doesn't have Kashrus Certification as well).  I absolutely disagree (and this is particularly pertinent when you consider the cost of the whisky in my last review).

In my opinion, this Bruichladdich Organic Barley represents excellent value for money. Why? Because it’s simply excellent whisky. It’s everything I look for in a Single Malt under 18 years old: exquisite nose, flavour complexity, robust even with water, a perfect balance of sweetness and savoury, and on top of all that, rather thought provoking. There are some Single Malts that, even at 10-Years, are still immature, and there are others that are 10-Years-Old and fully matured showing an abundance of character and personality.

The drinking experience is utterly sublime, The Bruichladdich Organic Barley 2012 is delicious, engaging, enthralling and very-very moreish. The longer you spend with it, you'll find that there's still more to discover.

The aftertaste is immensely satisfying. It’s everything you could possibly want from a whisky tasting session but, really and truly, a dram like this should be shared amongst family and friends. It’s just fantastically made whisky. Perhaps my propensity for the art of the English understatement is preventing me from making myself clear enough.

I’m absolutely loving it!

One note of caution. I would not recommend this Bruichladdich to a complete whisky beginner. It has too many complex flavours that aren’t usually associated with the more fruity and floral gateway whiskies. However, if you are into the more Craigellachie, Benrinnes, Glen Scotia type Single Malts, then this will be just up your alley.

Could there be an even better Bruichladdich Organic Barley out there?

According to the website, there is a special Travel Retail Organic Barley expression available that is 16-Years-Old. Wow! All these tasty notes plus a bit more sweet-silky oak flavour? Sounds amazing! However, I have been trying to get hold of this 16-Year-Old for a few months now without success. When I do finally track it down, I’ll bli neder, review it and compare it with this delicious 10-Year-Old. (That is, if there's any left in the bottle).

 

Candidate for My Personal Whisky of the Year 2025

We started the year with the amazing Glen Scotia Single Cask Israel Edition 2023.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the Lochlea Sowing Edition.

And then there was the incredible Douglas Laing Old Particular “Probably Orkney’s Finest Distillery” 12-Year-Old.

Let’s add this Bruichladdich Organic Barley 2012 to the shortlist.

I’ll let you all know how I decide to rank these four Single Malts towards the end of the year.