Although an Islay producer, many of Bruichladdich’s offerings are based on unpeated malt – including these Cuvee editions.\u00a0 Bottled at 46% ABV, this release was originally available for ~$140 CAD, from what I understand.\u00a0 My sample was provided by the Redditor xile_, as a mystery sample swap.<\/p>\n
Here is how it compares to similar offerings, and Bruichladdich’s unpeated range:<\/p>\n
Bruichladdich 21yo Cuv\u00e9e 382 La Berenice: 8.57 \u00b1 0.61 on 5 reviews ($$$$$) Aberlour 16yo Double Cask Matured: 8.71 \u00b1 0.18 on 12 reviews ($$$$) The Cuvee series expressions are well ranked, as you might expect from their age and price.<\/p>\n Here is what I find in the glass:<\/p>\n Colour:<\/strong> Golden amber, with a slight brownish tinge (suggesting the cask finishing).<\/p>\n Nose:<\/strong> Honey and vanilla sweetness, with apple, pear and peach fruit notes (peach marmalade\/cobbler). Definitely has that unpeated Islay “funk” – it is hard to describe, but is distinctive. Grassy, and something that could be hay (wet hay, specifically). Chocolate, coffee and a touch of mint. Some faint anise. A bit of nose hair singe, more than I would expect for 46% ABV. Although there is no smoke, you can’t shake the impression that it is hiding in the background somewhere. A good nose for me.<\/p>\n Palate:<\/strong> Sweet apple initially (apple juice), then lots of honey, marshmallow, and vanilla. Same orchard fruits as the nose, plus apricot now. Spicy, with cinnamon and a good hit of pepper giving it some zing. Malty and grassy. Chocolate and coffee notes really pick up at the end. Slightly oily and chewy – good mouthfeel. A slight antiseptic note slips over the tongue at the end – and that Islay funk again (but still no smoke).<\/p>\n Finish:<\/strong> Medium finish.\u00a0 Sweeter notes slowly fade, as some oaky bitterness creeps in over time. Pepper lasts the longest. Something a bit earthy\/nutty comes up at the end (and that funk again).<\/p>\n To be honest, I would have expected more fruit from the cognac here. Instead, it is really the French oak wood character that comes through. As Serge of Whisky Fun also noted, “very little Cognac but maybe a few spicy notes that hint at French oak … so less fruits and more grass.<\/span>” Definitely has a lot of spicy peppery zing to it.<\/p>\n This is an interesting pairing of the Bruichladdich core with French oak casks. I’ve been meaning to start trying more Bruichladdies, and this has just reinforced that idea. It could use a little more fruit character throughout, so I think the Meta-Critic average score is reasonable for this one (and if anything, is a bit high).<\/p>\n It gets very mixed reviews from the guys at Quebec Whisky<\/a>, with Patrick and Martin as fans, but Andre and RV less impressed. Serge at Whisky Fun<\/a> also gives it a middle-of-the-road review. Among the most favourable reviews on Reddit are from t8ke<\/a>, unclimbability<\/a> and xile_<\/a> – but my own quality assessment is closer to cjotto9<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bruichladdich Cuv\u00e9e 640 was the first of three whiskies released under the distillery’s Cuv\u00e9e series, which are finished in a range of specialty casks. This edition 640 is entitled Eroica, and was aged primarily in American oak before being finished in Limousin oak brandy casks (i.e., French oak cognac casks). The Cuvee series seems to be a little fanciful, given<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,119,17],"class_list":["post-3569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whiskies","tag-21yo","tag-bruichladdich","tag-single-malt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3569"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3804,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3569\/revisions\/3804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBruichladdich 21yo Cuv\u00e9e 407 PX: 8.98 \u00b1 0.20 on 3 reviews ($$$$$+)
\nBruichladdich 21yo Cuv\u00e9e 640 Eroica: 8.72 \u00b1 0.40 on 8 reviews ($$$$$)<\/strong>
\nBruichladdich Classic Laddie Scottish Barley: 8.39 \u00b1 0.44 on 8 reviews ($$$)
\nBruichladdich Laddie Classic (Edition 01): 8.42 \u00b1 0.56 on 6 reviews ($$$)
\nBruichladdich Laddie Ten: 8.82 \u00b1 0.30 on 16 reviews ($$$)
\nBruichladdich Laddie Ten (Second Edition): 8.89 \u00b1 0.27 on 7 reviews ($$$)
\nBruichladdich Laddie Sixteen: 8.75 \u00b1 0.22 on 12 reviews ($$$$)
\nBruichladdich Laddie Twenty Two: 8.85 \u00b1 0.25 on 10 reviews ($$$$$)
\nBruichladdich Rocks: 8.36 \u00b1 0.30 on 10 reviews ($$$$)
\nBruichladdich Sherry Classic: 8.25 \u00b1 0.86 on 6 reviews ($$$$)<\/p>\n
\nArran Malt Napoleon Cognac Finish: 8.70 \u00b1 0.73 on 5 reviews ($$$$)
\nGlenlivet 15yo French Oak: 8.38 \u00b1 0.25 on 17 reviews ($$$$)
\nMacallan 15yo Fine Oak: 8.38 \u00b1 0.52 on 10 reviews ($$$$$)
\nMacallan 17yo Fine Oak: 8.80 \u00b1 0.55 on 9 reviews ($$$$$)
\nMacallan 18yo Fine Oak: 8.82 \u00b1 0.31 on 12 reviews ($$$$$)
\nMacallan 21yo Fine Oak: 8.52 \u00b1 0.40 on 6 reviews ($$$$$+)
\nMacallan 25yo Fine Oak: 8.64 \u00b1 0.24 on 3 reviews ($$$$$+)
\nMacallan Edition No. 1: 8.81 \u00b1 0.47 on 8 reviews ($$$$$)
\nMacallan Edition No. 2: 8.81 \u00b1 0.24 on 8 reviews ($$$$$)
\nMillstone 8yo French Oak: 7.95 \u00b1 0.67 on 4 reviews ($$$$)
\nSullivans Cove Double Cask: 8.28 \u00b1 0.52 on 13 reviews ($$$$)
\nSullivans Cove French Oak: 8.67 \u00b1 0.28 on 8 reviews ($$$$$+)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/BruichladdichCuvee640.jpg\")
With water, no new fruits appear, but it sweetens up in the mouth with pancake syrup and brown sugar. It also brings up the chocolate and cinnamon spice further.<\/p>\n