Bruichladdich the Classic Laddie!

• Interesting things about the distillery:
  • Head Distiller, Adam Hannett
  • The name Bruichladdich is an anglicisation of Bruthach a' Chladaich, Scottish Gaelic for Brae (hillside) of the Shore.
  • Originally established in 1881, it was closed many times throughout its history, and its current form opened in 2001. It has been owned by Rémy Cointreau since 2012.
  • Barley doesn't grow well on Islay, so most is imported from other regions.  But Bruichladdich didn't like that, so they worked with a local farmer and have Islay-grown barley, over half is grown in Islay now
    • To help it grow, they began rotating crops by adding Rye. Rye has not been grown on Islay, so this was brand new.  They have a rye now!
• Our Bottle: Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie
  • "Trickle distilled" refers to a slow distillation process, often involving multiple runs (like triple distillation), where heat is carefully controlled for a gentle drip, resulting in a purer, lighter, smoother spirit by separating heavier compounds (congeners) and capturing lighter, more floral flavors, famously used in Irish whiskey and certain Scotch malts.
  • On average, our Classic Laddie batches are made from 76 different casks, comprising 4 vintages of spirit, 3 barley types, and 7 cask types.
  • Our bottle is 25/050
    • A VATTING OF 81 CASKS, 5 VINTAGES, 6 BARLEY TYPES AND 10 CASK TYPES

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Welcome to the Whiskey Chasers, where we talk about our passion for whiskey and its history, either amongst ourselves or while interviewing distilleries. All while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve. I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of The Whiskey Chasers. So what do we got in front of us today? Brooke Laddock. Brookladic? Brookladdock. The classic laddie. You can't say it like that. The classic laddie. There it is.

SPEAKER_05 0:40

So this is uh brought to you by Ryan. Yes, yes. I've seen this in the store multiple times. I think the bottle is beautiful. It's kind of uh an aqua blue. It's like a Robin's egg blue. It's uh like the the the fonts and everything, it's just a really pretty bottle. Um and uh, but I've I just always passed it by, and then one day I thought, today's the day I'm feeling.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Today's the day.

SPEAKER_05 1:09

And so then I bought it. You tried it, tried it.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

And were you feeling it after that?

SPEAKER_05 1:13

And later I realized so so it has some white print on there, which stands out really well, and then it has some like uh dark teal print, which blends in with the bottle really well. It does. It's a big paragraph, and midway through one of those paragraphs in the in the in the writing that you can't read very well, it says unpeeded. And then I was like, son of a gun, this is an isla scotch. It's an isla scotch unpeded. I did not know that at the time. I felt a little bit uh misled. That's like a boat without sails. That's very interesting. An islacotch with no peas. They buried the lead in the middle of the paragraph that is not even in white print.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Have you all tried this?

SPEAKER_03 2:01

Yes, before, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Have I had a sip of it? Take a sip of it now. Yeah, because this this, I don't know if you guys are gonna pair this together, and I want to help pair this because I think it'll be like a what the F moment. So we've got Ryan on that brought us this bottle. Ryan, I think Steve was on this one too. The Octomor. They're the same company.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Octomor? They went ahead and took the peat that was supposed to be in this, they put that in the Octomore. It's the exact same company. That's where they got the extra peat. That's where they got the extra peat.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

The exact same company that makes Octomor makes this.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Crazy.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

The two ends of the spectrum. That's the two opposite ends of the tea of the teeter tail.

SPEAKER_05 2:38

That makes me respect it a little bit more. And I and by the way, I'm not cutting on like I don't dislike this. It's just I it wasn't what you thought.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

But you just regarded the bottle and you were like, I didn't know who you were with.

unknown 2:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:52

Like the godfather, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

I didn't know who you were with.

SPEAKER_05 2:56

Well, you were with Octimore.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

That deserves its accolades.

SPEAKER_05 3:04

Oh yes. Oh yes. So, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Yeah, same company.

SPEAKER_05 3:07

Well, you know, as I looked at looked at the bottle, they do a lot of talk about being sustainable and you know, environmentally friendly and you know, experimental and all this stuff. Uh yeah. So now that I understand what some of those other experiments are, I'm like, okay. It's a little bit like Picasso. Like you see some of the more representational stuff that he does, and then when you're used to seeing his abstract, you know, cubist stuff, and then you're like, Oh, so you do have some talent. Oh, yeah, okay. You weren't this wasn't due to your limitation as an artist.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

This is purposely abstract, not just abstract to be a lacking in any sort of creativity. Or actual talent there, thereof.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yeah. They might be the most, and I don't want to take away from what Steve is gonna, they might be the most insane company when it comes to opposite ends of the spectrum and covering everything in between. Like this bottle. They trying to be different. So this is their their classic laddie. The classic laddie. This is no peat. This is just barley, which is nothing, there's nothing classic scotch about that. But within the same line, they're burlatic, they also do one that's called a black art edition that's a 24-year-old. This was how much? Do you remember roughly ballpark?

SPEAKER_05 4:36

Um gosh, I don't think 40 bucks or something like that. Yeah, it's not something it it it's it's on, it's definitely under 60. I mean, it w it was like enough that I could I I didn't feel bad about taking a chance on it. I'm gonna say, yeah, 40, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

They're black art touching 50 edition, beautiful bottle, just like this, but pitch black, 24-year-old, and they want uh $519 for it. They go all the way up to a 30-year-old. They're not making that. They admitted.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Yeah, they they resurrect yeah, well, so this brand, so they resurrected this brand, yeah, right, Steve? They did in 2012. Okay, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, so they're not winning around a minute. Uh I'm sorry, 2001. 2001 is okay. Opened up again.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

So 30, they wouldn't have a 30 gold unless they had it just sitting around before they actually which they may have or gotten it from another whatever.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

This is blended, so they're blending some old with the new one. They have single mole and they have blended. Yeah, this one is a single mole. There's nothing about this that says classic laddie, though, like the laddie, I guess I don't know, but the it says it's like the classic laddie to me screams like this is like your basic Scott Scotch whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

So I mean, this is a play on scotch. I mean, this is a straight Isla scotch. It's not it's missing the peat, it doesn't have peatiness, but definitely still has a lot of body to it. It's definitely not.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

But I mean, almost scotches have peat to it, just in varying degrees. How do you yeah? I mean, that's kind of what makes scotch scotch, kind what kind of is the peat.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

And so it's it's malted barley, but they're not using peat to malt it for this particular bottle. This company and the and uh broccoli broccolick or broccladock, broccolick, broccoli, broccoli, broccoli, broccoli, broccolick, yeah. I think that's probably it, yeah, is the name of the distillery. So that's that's them.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Broke my dick. The classic laddie broke my dick.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

So it's uh Scott, the Gaelic, the that word in Gaelic means hillside of the shore. So it's right on the edge. It opened in 1881. That's when they originally started, but it's sold and opened and closed a hundred times between then and now. 2001 is when this was opened and it became owned by Remy Quantro in 2012. So Quantro is this the first thing that they put out? This is their kind of flagship. This is kind of their normal.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

That is their normal? Yeah, if this is their flagship and this does well over there, this is intriguing to me because every American hears scotch and thinks Pete has to have Pete. Yeah, you see a Scotch over here without Pete, and like Chris, you start questioning your life decisions. Well, an Isla scotch in particular, right? Isla scotch, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

It's an Isla Scotch. There's lots of scotch that don't have a lot of flavors. If you're listening, I do want to make a point that this is not lacking in flavor of any. This is actually for no no peat, there's actually a lot of flavor. But it really thinks it's a lot of things. Which is weird that there's no peat.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

It's it's like it's like drinking a bourbon or an American whiskey. Like it's got flavor, but like where's in our minds, where's that thing that signifies this is scotch?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

I mean, it's for me, it's almost it's it's like Irish with a lot more flavor.

SPEAKER_06 7:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

That's what I get out of it.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Which it's a it's a barley whiskey. I mean, that's what Irish is also for me to do it.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

It's good, but it is almost like a castrated Scotch Scotsman. Like this is Highlander if he lost his nuts to the to the uh the uh what's it what's what was that guy's name? The bad guy in Highlander. Lowlander? No, no, no. It was the the the the crew somebody's gonna hear this and be like, oh, I know it. Um the crew crew or so, I can't remember what his name was. There can only be one. Yeah, the guy at the end uh that he defeats.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Yeah. So anyway, with any talk that we talk about flavor has to be has to be a little bit taken with a grain of salt if you get your own bottle of this. So earlier before we started recording, we we had I had asked Ryan the numbers on the side of this bottle because there are there's a special number that's on there. This particular one is 25-050. There are always for uh five numbers on there. This one is 25-050. I don't know where that is in the bottle. What if you find it? Oh, there we go. The bottom rim. Okay, all right. So on their website, if you go to their website, you can plug in that number and it'll tell you all of the barrels that are inside that particular bottle and this batch. So they are all slightly different.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

The normal wait, sorry, they're all slightly different, but they're all without peat.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Yes, they're all without peat.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

So on average, the classical AD batches are made from 76 different casks. 76 comprising four vintages of spirit, four different years, three barley types, and seven cast types. That's kind of the average normal.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

So cask types are like finishing.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Yes, basically, but they're aging in different casks. This particular one is made of 81 different casks. So there's 81 different barrels inside of this, and each one, none of them have five, five vintages. So there's five different years, six different barley types, and ten different cask types. Sorry, barley types, yep. So different barley uh strands or locations. Something I learned from this company is that barley does not grow well in Isla, Skyland. So in the region of Isla, barley doesn't grow super great. So most barley doesn't get grown in that area. There's really not a lot of crop farming in Isla. It's mainly sheeps and cows and stuff. But there are some. There are some farmers in there. Within the last couple of years, there that's about half now of what's inside of this is made in Isla. But here's how this all comes around because there's another bottle of bricklottic that we need to get our hands on at some point, if it's in the US. I don't know if it is or not. In order to help the barley grow, there's a nutrient issue. So every two years, so the barley grows for like two years, don't get a lot of yield because it's just too wet and everything. The third year, they rotate in rye as a way to add in those nutrients back to the soil. Rye in Scotland. There is a broccolotic rye that is available. Oh, that sounds awesome. So I don't know if it's available in the US or not, but that is something that they came out with, and it's they partnered with some local farmers and stuff to get that to be able to get the nutrients back in to grow the the the barley there. That might wet my whistle.

SPEAKER_05 11:20

Right. I'm just glad you didn't say they tried putting Gatorade on it. Gatorade.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Water's better.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Gatorade. So and if you go to the website and type that in, you can look at every single one of those barrels and you can plug that in, see what they are. And so there's a lot of first fill American bourbon barrels, there's a lot of other finishings out there. There's, and I'll tell you the different scot, uh, the different barleys. So it's a cool little the website's cool and being able to figure out what that is. So this particular one that we're trying is 25050. So if you get your own, or if you go to the store and pick out a different one, you can plug that in and see what's in them.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

When you're talking about blending 80 different things together to get a certain specific flavor profile, I gotta think that that's not so much like we're gonna blend this and try it. Okay, that works. Blend it. They gotta just be throwing a whole lot of crud in something based on past practices or whatever, but still, like that's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

They're probably not trying to get the same flavor each time.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

They're not this one, they're not, but most scotches, that's what they are trying to do. They want the same flavor profile, and they're they're blending 120 different things together sometimes to get it.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

Adam Hannett is the master distiller for these guys, and he it usually takes about two-ish weeks of sampling and and blending to that guy to get to a blend that they're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Two ish weeks, man. I take half a month to try to figure out what I'm gonna do with this.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Dude, you you need one hefty corned beef sandwich for lunch for for that kind of job.

SPEAKER_05 12:50

How do you how do you even process right that amount of material? Yeah, like and and how often do they put out an a different numbered batch?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

He probably has to hibernate and sober up for like a year or two.

SPEAKER_05 13:04

This year we're putting out all the yeah 050s or whatever it is, or is it I mean, do they have like multiple versions of it coming out all the time?

SPEAKER_03 13:15

I think it I think it's really based on on need to get get it out. It's it's not yearly, there's probably like three or four year-ish that are coming out. Their goal is not like like you said, the goal is not to make them all taste the same, their goal is to match whatever it is he's he's aiming for at that time. And the reason it takes two weeks is because he can't sit there and drink uh like all day. Like you his palate would be gone by the end of that. He would be gone too, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

He would enjoy himself, but he wouldn't maybe wouldn't be that effective as a as a blender.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

So this is fascinating. We crapped on, I don't know if you guys remember this, Ladeg 10. Ladeg. They do a non-peted scotch. We have yet to try it out. That was the first time we heard about uh an unpeded scotch, and we like crapped all of it. It was terrible. Why would why would we do that?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Why would anyone just unpete it? It was also on everything.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

No, so the Legeg 10 is peted, but they do an unpeteed. And we were like, why would you do that if you can't do this?

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Well, I don't remember there being any sort of peed or non-peed, like it was just not good. Right. And so we thought, well, what's your unpeteed like if this is your peat?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah, this might be the only other one that we've seen now tried. First one we tried that's unpeted for a scotch, but coming from a company that's like, I'm not gonna focus on the peat, I'm going to focus on the unique blend. It's like a single barrel. It's like it's like a blended single barrel of like whatever I'm feeling.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

It's also the power of the barley. Right. You don't have peat to cover up the barley. So you have to make sure you're you're getting good and getting good grain and not have the peat to to help you out.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Progressive hybrid distilleries? What is that? I don't know. Hybridian. And then at the end at the bottom, reconnecting land to tram.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

Yeah, yeah. So they are they are a uh B Corp, which is it's it's a lot less of uh of a uh environmental type that they do.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

If REI had their bottle, a zone bottle of scotch. Yes, which I like REI. I'm a big REI guy, but it is a little corporate B like company. Like the people that are making this are totally wearing Chacos.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Right. Which again, I have I have Chos, so I'm not shitting on it.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

But it's also you gotta make fun of yourself a little bit, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:29

They also put out the botanist, the ginist is also theirs.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I do like the botanist.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

I do like that a lot. And also the fun fact about the botanist, I when you're on their website, they have a little video and they make you meet their head forager. Yeah, the forager. Because they don't have they don't grow feeding. They make their own botanicals of those botanicals.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Yeah, they go and hand pick them and stuff like that. They just pick them, they just go out and pick up. Which is pretty bad and stuff. That's really cool. What if that was your job? What do you do? Yeah, exactly. I'm the head forager for the botanist. That is pretty cool. And I knew that came from Scotland. I just never I didn't put the two together. But and that's a sweet looking bottle, too. That's a cool bottle. It is, yeah. Uh that's one of my favorite gins. It's a very good gin.

SPEAKER_05 16:10

Yeah. Their marketing people are doing a fantastic job.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

They really are. This one is a bit on the this one's a bit on the nose with that stuff, but I do like it. It it almost looks like that uh that color and scheme and everything. What what's that where you donate to like save the something or other or pharmaid or some some such such thing? I don't know. Like some sort of like donate, like uh non-for-profit type of, doesn't it kind of look like that?

SPEAKER_02 16:36

I mean, that color is very easy going. And when with like it's trying to donate something, the billboarding and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah, but you know, it's interesting. You say the color is very easygoing. I would assume the whiskey is easygoing.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

Is this easy going for you guys? I don't think so. I mean, if you're comparing it to a log of a one or something, then yeah, but for an Isla, it's very easy going.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Yeah, I this is this is more flavored than most space items.

SPEAKER_03 16:58

Yeah, but and also another part of this is this is also underproof.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

I was about to say this is underproof.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

You know, that is a good point to make because this that is kind of filling that. I think if this was 80%, it really wouldn't be good.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

So do you think it's filling in where the peat should be?

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Yeah, because at least it's bringing something to the table, like otherwise it'd blow away you know, in the wind. I feel like this is more than a space side, but without the proof, maybe it would be a space side or less, flavor-wise, just because there's not a whole I mean it's a single malt. That's really it, right? I'd be like an American whiskey. That kind of standard barley. It's kind of like buttery iron the iron vault iron vault because they had an American single malt that's unpeated. Yeah. This is an American malt that's unpeated. You just throw America out of the equation. You know what's interesting now that you bring that up. They put theirs in bourbon casks, right? This one's not so much, but this one's a higher proof than there.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

There's a lot of it is in bourbon casks, but yeah, ex bourbon casks, yeah. X bourbon, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Most scotches rely on the peat. The peat where they where they harvest the peat, their water, and then the barrels essentially, like what they let it sit in. This guy takes out the peat completely. I don't even know if they care about the water. They they pretty much look at the barley and like, okay, what can we play with once it's done and sitting in a barrel? They're I mean, they're essentially utilizing the barrel to flavor that barley. And then from there, they're like, okay, what can we play with barrel-wise, combination-wise, to get a unique profile, unique flavor that no one else is gonna put out. I don't know anyone else, scotch-wise, that puts this kind of flavor out. Like, this is like I mean, if spaceside wasn't peated, maybe this would be a space side, and usually, I mean, space don't have a lot of peat in it. Right, like there's not a heavy peat flavor, but a space side with no peat, but there is smoke. There's some smoke, right? Like maybe doesn't have that smoke.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Yeah, but the proof on this is good though. Well, I wonder if they tried this at 80 proof and we're like, we just can't.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

I feel like this showcases what I've learned with Iron Vault and this. I feel like it showcases the barrels they use and their understanding of maturity levels for flavors rather than relying on ingredients to create that flavor, which is very interesting because the same company does octomar, which is very much like a super peat, very much relying on like an extra ingredient, like a peat extract. I mean, it it's very much relying on the ingredient, not the barrel, to create that guy. It's it's mind-boggling, like it's it's so weird, it's so complete opposite ends of the spectrum, like you couldn't get any farther from each other.

SPEAKER_05 19:37

I don't know how I don't know how that guy pro can process all of that, all those flavors and have something. I want to know what his process is. How do you even approach this? I mean, it's sort of like um an infinity bottle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Think about it that way. Yeah, but with 80, yeah, how do you track all that? Right. And what are the proportions?

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Like, I mean like I guess at a certain point your age kind of determines your portion.

SPEAKER_05 20:07

Well, you're right. If it's really a whole I mean you start running out of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

I want to see his notebook. That's what I want to see.

SPEAKER_05 20:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

I mean, it's no right.

SPEAKER_05 20:15

Can you can you imagine making anything with 80 ingredients and playing around with those to get it right? You know, like I I've got a couple of recipes that are have kind of become my my thing, you know. Uh I I do a chili, I do the firecracker macaroni salad that I bring almost every month. It took me a while to play around with some of those ingredients to get it where I wanted it, but I but I was adjusting like you weren't adjusting adjusting all 80 in three or four things. Yeah, I wasn't adjusting 80. How do you ever that that's like that's like uh room full of monkeys typing Shakespeare? Like how like how how many mistakes do you have to make before you get it where you want it?

SPEAKER_01 20:58

This is another reason why I have such a an appreciation for scotch, is because well, yes, this is impeded and I love my Pete. There's something about Scotch whiskey in the blenders, and the how how do you do that? Like, how do you even get to that point? Like where you're talking not two ingredients or three, you're talking like 80 different ingredients that you're changing up, like, oh I need a little bit more of this barrel, I need a little bit less of this one.

SPEAKER_05 21:24

Oh, I need like he's got maybe he's like rain man, you know, like you need a human computer, yeah, to to to do that. And how is it the how is this the flagship? An Isla at 100 proof with no Pete. How is that your flagship? And it changes up from bottle to bottle. I salute you, sir. That yeah, it's impressive. It really it really is. I went from a little feeling of like, oh man, you see you pulled you pulled one over on me to now I'm thinking like, okay, there's some I got some respect here.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

That it was yeah, I'm I'm cheating over here though. And it worked. I was curious. You're cheating. So what did you cheat with? We were smoking like a uh what I would assume is a burly, like a nat was called what natural number one or something, and it was good, but I was like, I started thinking like you know, this thing's lacking that smoke and the peat and everything. So I was like, I wonder if I if I start smoking an English blend, if that's gonna kind of like and actually it's not bad. I was kind of picking up what the scotches like would typically have, but it's leaving it out, so it's kind of so it's cheating full disclosure.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

When when I when we decided without your consent or your knowledge that we're doing this bottle, I was really hoping to do it in your pipe and gun room and have you tried beforehand to then figure out what would pair with this because we're dealing with a scotch that is essentially a blank canvas when it comes to scotch. And you've always said scotch is probably the hardest thing to pair with because it's so flavorful. Yeah. Here is your blank can there's no peat, so I think of a blank canvas. What are you gonna do with it? What are you gonna try to fill in with it?

SPEAKER_00 23:05

And I think that for this thing, like a really, really staunch English blend is what's neat, or a Balkan blend, maybe probably more English blend. Um I just what uh what we have to hand. Yeah, which is uh I was reading, I was asking English, yeah, proper English. This one's medium bodied, it's kind of like nightcap, maybe a little bit less harsh, but I think even nightcap would be fantastic with this. A little bit of Orientals, but then a good portion of Latiquia is kind of what this needs. Now, does that mean that this needs something? I don't know, like that's the thing, but it's going well with it, I can tell you that. Which there's not often that you're right. There's a lot of times the English would fight with a scotch, like a strong English tobacco would kind of fight with a scotch because they're both super strong flavors. Yeah. For a second there, I thought you meant the people. Oh, the people.

unknown 23:54

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:55

Well, sure.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

But of course that have you watched Braveheart?

SPEAKER_03 24:00

That is what happened. I've just been smoking and blowing into my cup for a little while. Does that work?

SPEAKER_05 24:09

I'm making a smoked cocktail. Feel free to pour a little more. If we finish that bottle off, I'm okay. Because it's not B Diddy's IFF that it is good though. No, I might I might try to find another one. I mean, if we can figure out what the number is and if that's sold in the in America, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah, the the uh the rye one. I've got uh I've got a fueler out to see if we can get a bottle.

SPEAKER_05 24:31

Well, yeah, I I mean I'd like to try even even if I could just find any other ones that don't have that number, I'd I'd like to try and see. Sure, why not?

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah, I have yet to be disappointed with anything they put out bottle-wise. The presentation of it, like the cork, it looks like it should be like a granite top. Like it's it's very presentable. It's yeah, it's a really cool color shape. The whole bottle shape, everything they've done. It was gray because they do gray, black, and uh, what's the other label? I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

What did we have that was like a very uh offensive scotch that was like orange?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Offensive scotch that was orange, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Offensive in a good way, or not? Offensive in a good way. Like it was one of the super scotches, and it was like I think you were like orange. You got it for me.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Yeah, I did. We're not talking about Glasgow Compass boxer. No, no, no, no. Uh it's not one you got for me, it's one that you had. Maybe it was an orange label like 15, 12, or 15 years old Glenn Meringue.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

No, no, no. No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about like uh you, you, I think you got it, and it was in a very different looking bottle, and almost it might have just been the liquid that was orange, to be honest with you. Oh, was it the one that we had on Christmas? Yeah, I think the smokehead? Oh no, not recent, not recently. This was a couple years ago. It was on the I thought it was on the podcast. It was orange and color.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

It wasn't Octimore. I mean, Octamor might have been it was the bottle was not orange, but maybe the color was really dark.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Uh I remember it just being like orange looking.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

I mean, it had orange writing on it. It was uh 14.3, I think was the one.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Wait, didn't you get one from Tipsy that was supposed to be like crazy, like Octamor, like crazy amount of peat? Like a crazy amount of peat.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

I mean, Octamor I got from was that it? Oh, it was this one. The 14 one. Yeah, see it's orange. It's orange when you pull it out. Yeah, it it the case was a different color, but like it was a like a glossy bottle. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Yeah, yeah, it's like a frosted glass sort of comes across orange because it's so dang peated. Yeah, that's it. I was like, I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

So that's not the highest peat that they've ever done.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

Yeah, that's Octamore, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Okay, so the Octamor of the Octamore's not the highest. So Octamor is a unique one in the sense that it changes every year. They do three in the series.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

We've had something besides Octamor that was also like concentrated.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Yes. Each series that they do is a different one. They're on 16 right now.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

They have their own peat levels, kind of like Scoville units.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Yep. PPMs of what they you know measure it out by. So Octomore 14.3 was 214.2 parts per million. I believe it was their 8.3. So I mean, we had 14. So eight, uh, I would have been six series, six years before that, was 309.1 ppm's. That was the highest that they've ever done. 309. Okay. 309, and Octomore 15.3 was 307.2, so more than even the 14 that we had. Wow. I really wanted to try it, but it's like 200 bucks a bottle. Yeah, that's a struggle. Yeah. Yeah. It's a struggle, but I really want to try it.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Scotch, that doesn't sound so bad.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

No, 200 bucks.

SPEAKER_05 27:47

It doesn't sound so bad. It doesn't really matter if you care too much. If you want to go in on a bottle, yeah. Uh 15 might have one or two.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

So what was it called? Octomore 15.3. Oh, just a higher. Yeah. So they so Octomore does theirs is yearly releases, and they only release three a year. And so each year it's a different. So they're on their 16th year of doing this. I don't know that I can be disappointed. I at first it was, I don't know that I've ever been disappointed. I'll say that. I don't know if I've ever been disappointed with this bottle or the company. It just takes me by surprise every time.

unknown 28:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Like I'm I'm kind of caught off guard by it because you say scotch and try this, you're like, something's a mess. Okay. Funny joke. Like, you're trying to pull one over on me? Like, what is going on? So, what else what else do they sell around here?

SPEAKER_05 28:40

What else can we get from these guys here in Ohio?

SPEAKER_01 28:43

I've never seen the Octomores.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

Yeah, I don't know there's much that we can get in Ohio from them. They have they like I said, they make the botanist, so we have that.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

I I can say that sadly, when it comes to scotch, Ohio sucks. Uh, Port Charlotte is also theirs. Okay. I think that or not. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

What do you think the best state for scotch is?

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Best state for scotch?

SPEAKER_00 29:04

One that's not regulated. Like, yeah. Yeah, but like who do you who do you think's like the okay? Let me make this clear. Who's who's getting the most? Yeah, who's getting the most imported? Who who's actually buying the most scotch? Man, that's a good question. As far as the citizens go, like whoever's living there. Like, what state do you think buys buys the most scotch?

SPEAKER_05 29:22

My guess just based off of nothing is New England states. New England states. Because they're they're more like known for seafaring.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Well, you know, but you know, out in or uh west, like in California and stuff, they really are into like high-end whiskey too, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

Yeah, I would just I would look and see who what California is the most.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

I would say it's probably East Coast. It probably is. I would yeah, but there's so many people that live out out west too. Fancy people that are buying, you know, you New York probably goes through like a good amount of immigrants and stuff. So that's that's that's more New England too, isn't it? New York and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

Yeah, I don't know. Port Charlotte, Brock Lodic, and Octimore are their their three main ones that they make. Port Charlotte, it's like good Charlotte.

SPEAKER_05 30:05

Have you guys had Port Charlotte?

SPEAKER_00 30:07

I I have not. I don't know if I have. I don't think I have. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for that. If I were to pair a tobacco with this, it would be gaslight.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Gaslight? What remind what is that? Is that an English? Is it a light that uses gas? Oh, right.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

It's very strong English. The one that comes in like a almost like a plug.

SPEAKER_05 30:25

The gas fumes.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

And you have to like kind of really cut it up. But it's the one that says on there that you're walking down the cobblestone, just slit cobblestone streets, and and the the only light you can see is illuminated by candles, candle lanterns, and whatnot. When I it's cold and damp, and you want to go and tuck in somewhere warm with a with a nice little dram of alcohol of whiskey, you know. And it's like, yeah, that's but it's it's very earthy, very strong, very full-bodied Balkan style English blend. And it's it's very good, uh overpoweringly so. But I think that would go good with this. Interesting. So are Balkans different from Virginia? Balkan is basically an English with a little bit more Orientals, so a little bit more sweet sour, uh, sometimes a little bit more peppery, and definitely more. More peppery than Virginia's? Yeah, and in a different way. More peppery than like a standard English. Like, are we talking like white peppery versus black pepper kind of peppery? More like uh, I don't want to say spice pepper, but like earthy peppery. But so probably like black pepper, like crack, crack black black pepper.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Because I mean, you say Orientals and like over in Asia, like the Orients, like white pepper is very popular in dishes, like Chinese and Japanese dishes. White pepper is more popular than black.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Yeah. It's probably just it's I mean, oriental is one of those types of tobacco that you kind of have to smoke a little bit on its own, which nobody does that, but you should smoke a little bit on its own to see what it's like. But can be tangy, can be kind of sweet and sour, but it's very creamy, kind of unami, kind of. So, like peppery, when I'm talking like peppery, think of that. Think of like the pepper in a in rama noodles kind of a thing. You know what I mean? And then you add that with like the dark leaf of the latichia leaf that's been like, you know, smoked and everything else. And because that's how they make latiquias. It's basically like like how they do scotch that's been smoked, and then a little bit of the Virginia and whatnot else that they put in there. But Balkan blends are basically English blends with a little bit more Orientals. So I typically like Balkan blends more because I like Orientals.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

That would go well with this guy.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Yeah, I think so. Because it's a flavor bomb. Gaslight is a complete flavor bomb. It's so good. Not saying this isn't, but uh like you said, I think earlier before, like this is kind of like you know, it's like when you have a really good pasta sauce and you end up just putting it on regular pasta noodles, like it makes the whole dish better. Like you can't have the sauce on its own, you can't really elevate pasta noodles that much, but they're just pasta noodles, you know what I mean? But altogether it's a good experience.

unknown 32:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

So this is kind of like the pasta noodles, you know, but that they're not it's not bad, but it's it does need maybe need something. It's like nachos. Yeah, I think that that's what this is. If I were to describe this, I wouldn't say it's lacking in the peat, but it does need something. I don't think this on its own is enough. Like if if you don't smoke pipes or cigars or something, I don't know, you'd have to eat something good with it, maybe. Or would you agree with that? I think it needs something. I would.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

I am every time we talk about American single malt scotches now, and we're talking about being unpeated, and it always amazes me how much you like Irish whiskey. Because you really enjoy Irish whiskey, but that's also just a hundred percent barley. And so, what makes Irish whiskey and that not lack anything, but something like this? Is it just because it's a scotch?

SPEAKER_00 33:43

And so like it's a it's a different about the Irish whiskey for me is most of it is nostalgia. It's that taste of if you've ever, if you can think of anything in your life that was very basic and not good, peanut butter and jelly probably would be one of those things, but something that like you had a whole lot of at in your time that when you eat it brings you back doesn't mean it's something you necessarily crave or necessarily enjoy. Like if you were given like a fle mignon or that, you probably to pick the fleie mignon, but you don't get nostalgia when you eat the flavon. You get what I'm saying? So for me, Irish whiskey's a little bit of that, it's also a little bit of like, I don't know, quick and dirty, kind of like a like again, like it's like fast food. So I I never sit down and drink an Irish whiskey, like like the way we do bourbon and stuff, where I'm like trying to pull out because I've always I'm kind of famous for saying like it all tastes the same, you know what I mean? And it really does. Now, when you do get into like say red breast and stuff, and especially when you're talking about finishings, that's where you start to elevate Irish whiskey. And again, it's not the most amazing thing in the world, but you are taking something and elevating it. And that uh in itself is I appreciate so much that I I will appreciate that whiskey more probably than it deserves, because it still is kind of a basic whiskey, but it's been elevated to a point way past what it could be. That's the kind of stuff I like. That that's art, you know what I mean? When you can take something that's really basic and really elevate it above its like station, like that's cool. So I'm gonna appreciate it even more for those reasons. So there are Irish whiskeys that I really, really like, and I would sit and drink neat because you're kind of like, well, I would never get this in any other Irish experience kind of a thing. So I probably in the same way that if you somebody made you like, oh, have you ever seen that movie? Oh, what's it called? The menu. It's like this girl who kind of gets roped into going on this island where these foodies are gonna be there and like eating weird foodie things, but then the chef's kind of like, he's gonna kill everybody because he's got a reason to. He's kind of got a reason to kill everybody. And he realizes early on that you aren't supposed to be here. I'm gonna kill everybody in this island, including ourselves. Like it was a complete suicide mission. He's like, Man, you're innocent, but you're gonna die. And you can tell he's struggling with it. Well, at some point throughout the movie, she starts like realizing like this guy had a childhood and a past, and what made him to be this amazing chef that he is now? And she kind of digs in and digs in, and she finds out that he his first job, he was like flipping burgers, basically. And she brings that up to him. And basically, she like kind of bargains that, like, can you give me one really good meal before I die? You're a chef. This is your passion, right? And he goes, Okay, I can make anything. And this is the guy that's charging like you know, two, twenty-five thousand dollars for a plate of food. Like he's that level. And he's like, What do you want? thinking she's gonna ask for some amazing thing with like truffles that are like on the top of Mount Everest that you can only get like once every 18 years. And she's like, I want a cheeseburger. And he's like, A cheeseburger? Like, what are you talking about? Like, I'm a I'm a chef, I don't make cheeseburgers, you know what I mean? She's like, That's what I want. So he goes in there and you see him in the kitchen, and he really kind of puts like, and it's a basic cheeseburger, but he puts all his like creativity and his now his knowledge and skill into this, but you can also see that he's enjoying the nostalgia of it. Like he used to do this, and he's doing it for the first time in all these years since he's gotten all this skill and and and acclaim and all this stuff. And he makes like what looks like probably the best looking cheeseburger I've ever seen in in a movie or commercial or whatever. And she eats it and it sounds like it's amazing. And he and he got so much joy out of making it, he gets so much joy out of her eating it that she takes a bite and she looks at him and he and she goes, Can I get this to go? And he's like, Yeah, yeah, you can. Because like he she finally whittled him down to this like place where he like remembered who he was. And so anyway, I guess that's what I'm talking about. Where like when you take something that's like nostalgic and you enjoy it, but it's really kind of like not that good, like like a cheeseburger, like whatever. You can get a dime a dozen, right? Right.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

When you watch Ratatouille, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

You elevate it to that point, all of a sudden you appreciate it in a whole different light. And it's like I could have had truffle oil from this, you know, extinct thing and from the top of you know the Ukraine peninsula or whatever you want to call it. But in uh, I don't even think that's a place. I don't know. But uh sure. Some some whales probably a peninsula there, some whales, uh you know, yeah, but whatever. But anyway, uh I just think that that's a cool, like I would I would appreciate that more than I would appreciate something like that. Something that's like really, really, really hard to get because you took something that is kind of thought-provoking for me or memory provoking for me, and you elevated it. So I guess that's why I like Irish. But as far as like the actual Irish, if I just drank for the flavor, no, yeah. It's not, I mean, because you're right, uh, Irish whiskey is, and I kind of do shit on Irish whiskey quite a bit because I always be like, that's no better than Irish, or or that because it is, it's a kind of a it's a one-hit pony. It's a working man's drink, it's a cheap, you know, like Jameson's. Like it's just it's I'm not saying it's not a no thinker. It's a no thinker. Like that is a no thinker. Like that is uh, I you know, we will just drink and drink till we black out, you know what I mean? Or you could you don't have to do that. I'm just saying you could do that and it would be fine. Well, maybe not fine, but it would be, you know, you could do it. Uh it's been done. It wouldn't be it wouldn't be a waste.

SPEAKER_05 39:06

It wouldn't be a waste of the whiskey.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

Yeah, you can get a half a gallon and be like, it's Irish, it's Jameson. You know, I'm drinking something better than the Stoli or the It's fine.

SPEAKER_03 39:15

Yeah, but yeah, my goal is not to find flavors. My goal is to dress.

SPEAKER_00 39:19

Yeah, my goal is the everything that this whiskey is gonna do, not the way it tastes. Yeah. Not that it tastes terrible, but yeah, yeah, yeah. That's uh that's exactly what it is. You know what I mean? It's the burger that's and then if like Redbreast, I mean there I've had some really good and some other Irish whiskies we've had that is like this is this is the cheeseburger that's been elevated. Yeah. So I get that piece of nostalgia, but with some uh fancyness to it, like a some sort of fancy, amazing peanut butter and jelly sandwich would be would be really cool, like in a cool experience, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06 39:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

All of a sudden gourmet jelly. Gourmet jelly and hand churned peanut butter, you know, with just the right amount of I like crunchy peanut butter, is there just the right amount of crunchiness to it on homemade some sort of fancy bread with, you know, yeah. I think that that's a good cool idea, by the way. Not a bad idea for a restaurant. Just a peanut butter and jelly butter? Yeah, peanut butter and jelly.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

Just peanut butter. Think about this.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

We serve peanut butter.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

Yeah, gourmet peanut butter and jelly. Yeah, it's not a bad idea.

SPEAKER_01 40:23

Appetizer, we got peanut butter crunchy for $20.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

Like, like how they uh like the place next to pens bowling and things like that. Like that, that would that would kind of restaurant would work. People are like hungry and they're like, oh, a fancy PBJ that's like $8, which is way overpriced, but I'm gonna buy it because I'm hungry. This is probably the best PBJ I've ever had. That would do well.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

They need they need to find like a place like beside pens that's actually like in a box and call it lunch in a box and do lunch proximity.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

The version of that that showed up is grilled cheeses. A lot of places have fancy grilled cheeses now, which is even less so than PBJ.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

Right. There's less components there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:03

Go after yourself. Grilled cheese. Right. Not even that complicated. But the cheese. It's gouda.

SPEAKER_03 41:16

Yeah, it's a gouda. It's a gouda cheese. So, okay, so that makes sense. So you're you're uh so this Irish, this, any any American singamal, any of those that are like basically they're 100% barley because of the fact that they are 100% barley, they tend to be one trick ponies, and there's not usually a lot of variation between them. So something like this has to have the varying, either varying barrels, different different uh barley strains, whatever it may be. You have to find something to differentiate yourself. And this one, they do it mainly in their blending, but in the end, it's 100% barley. And that's the flavor that you get. But they bump the proof up to 100 proof, which does help it out.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

And that that seems to have helped it out the most. And it doesn't have the uh, you know, and like I most Irish, it doesn't have that weird aftertaste that you do get with American single malts on most of them, not all of them, but the a lot of the ones I've tried. Uh if and I have said it before, if it wasn't for that aftertaste, a lot of these American single malts I would like more. But you do get that sometimes, and it's off-putting. But with this one especially, I do think that uh to elevate it with pipe tobacco makes sense, you know. That works that we're gonna, because if they're not gonna do it, I will, kind of a thing, you know, right. But this and there's not a whole lot of scotches out there that I would actually drink while I ate food, because I do think that that's kind of like I don't want to say disrespectful, but I don't, you don't always get all the like sometimes you do a little bit, but I feel like it's kind of like this is really good scotch, and I'm kind of just like eating while I'm drinking it, kind of a thing. I'd rather eat, take a minute, take a sip than eat. You know what I mean? But I mean like actually eating and drinking, like where you have a mouthful of food and then you take a sip. That's what I mean. Like that's kind of abusive for the like a really high-end scotch, in my opinion. This one you wouldn't feel bad doing it. And actually, would probably, it's not so over flavored that it would probably go better with the food. Like it wouldn't make it like too much.

SPEAKER_05 43:12

When Prince when we've had Prince dinners with scotch bottles, though, is that what you did?

SPEAKER_00 43:17

So sometimes the the the way uh my and maybe because my palate's sensitive, I just think that for the most part, for me, that's too much usually. What I like to do is either the bet my what I really like to do is take a little sip. And once I kind of am getting into the, once I'm getting into the palate, so pretty much almost right as soon as I swallow it, starting to experience the different flavors in my palate. And I'm starting to go over them in my mind. As that's happening, that's when I introduce the food. Because then that'll work together in conjunction. Then as soon as that is kind of in that same point where I'm swallowing it, then I want to take another sip and kind of finish it up. Now, sometimes when you take that sip after the food, it's too soon and it kind of cascades on the other flavors, and I think it gets kind of jumbled. In my opinion. But the best way for me to do it is have the whiskey first, then a bite of food. Then it's usually, you know, bite, bite, swallow, swallow. Really enjoy the flavors and then repeat.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

Yeah. And the only time that we had scotch with a prince dinner was Johnny Walker Blue. Is that right? Okay.

SPEAKER_05 44:17

Oh. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. I was thinking of juveniles, but that was not a prince dinner. Yeah. We've had a few scotches, but not with the printers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:25

Yeah. Johnny Walker Blue is the only one, which is a blended scotch. A very good blended scotch, but still a blended scotch. So because of that, I think it lends itself more to being able to eat with it.

SPEAKER_05 44:36

Well, would you guys buy this?

SPEAKER_03 44:38

I would.

SPEAKER_05 44:39

Yeah. How much is it? 40 bucks? 40 to 50, somewhere in there. I mean, that's cheap.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

Yeah. I could see myself maybe having this. It's it's good for what it is.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

There, I would have to buy it with the knowledge that this is not peted.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

It's good to have some diversity on diversity on the shelf, you know, like and that that's totally what this is. I will say, you know, I could go back to if this was 80 proof, I think I would be really kind of crapping all over it. But that 90 proof or 100 proof or whatever, there's a lot more flavor here than I expect after like talking about it. Like where's that flavor kind of coming from? I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

But it there's a lot. Oh HLQ has this at $49.99. So this is $50.

SPEAKER_05 45:16

$50. 50 bones. Would you try to get a different numbered bottle?

SPEAKER_03 45:22

I want to try that. I want to, I want to next time I'm in a liquor store, I'll be looking at that for the number just to see, just to see if I can try one that's different from this and see how different they are.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

Yeah, I'd be on the same boat. Like I'd be interested to see. Like if we are trying to let the barrel and blend shine. If that's uh that's my thought process and theory of this. If that is true, then the next bottle should be slightly different.

unknown 45:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

And I I want to try the bottles side by side, you know.

SPEAKER_05 45:51

I think I don't really feel a need to buy this again. Yeah. If it's this bottle.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Yeah, if it was just this one. The fact that you might get something different is kind of nice.

SPEAKER_05 46:01

Yeah, I I would I would try to make sure it's a different number just for the novelty of it or what you know, just to explore a little bit. But I don't think I would seek this one out again, having had it once. It yeah, it's fine.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

I think if it was any more expensive, it would be disappointing too. Do you think you would have been like, say you paid 80 bucks for that? Yeah, no. Like, I could have gotten a Lefroig or a Logable. Yeah, yeah. Well, for me, Lefroy, Lefroy, Lefroig tin's not that expensive. Like never let me down.

unknown 46:31

Right.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

Yeah. For 50 bucks, I think that's a reasonable price for it. I said, I'm I'm interested to try another one to see to see what the differences are. But even if it's not that different, I still liked this one. I I do like, I mean, I like barley generally. So, you know, just generally, I I like that flavor. So I'd be curious. So I I liked this one on its own, but I'm very curious about what's different or the different numbers.

SPEAKER_05 46:56

Yeah, how far and wide can you switch it up before you feel like I'm not gonna not gonna call this classic laddie? This has to be something different, right? Retro Laddie, right?

SPEAKER_00 47:08

The older laddie, barley and burley. I'm gonna get a tattoo. Laddie the elder.

SPEAKER_03 47:13

All right, excellent. Well, till next time, Jack. Till next time. Cheers. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you want more great content and other perks, be sure to support the show by clicking the link in the show notes. We can be reached on our website, whiskeychasterspot.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.