Review #584 - Bruichladdich Bere Barley 2010
Bruichladdich is a distillery that loves to experiment with their whisky - they make several different styles of spirit, use every cask type imaginable for maturation and finishing, and bottle single malt at a wide variety of ages. With their 'Barley Provenance Series,' the brand searches for the effects of terroir on whisky which uses single varietals of barley from specific locations or micro-climates.
This bottling focuses on the Bere variety of barley, specifically on a batch of grain grown across 4 farms on the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland. Bere barley is a variety of six-row barley, and it's one of Scotland's oldest grain varieties that is still grown; in addition to the whisky industry, the grain has also seen use in brewing, baking, and animal feed/bedding. Bere is said to bring a unique character or flavor - in theory, it adds strong sweet and malty notes to whisky.
The label states that this single malt was aged for 8 years; it doesn't, however, specify the types of casks that were used for that maturation period. Some sources online point toward American oak casks, which would suggest ex-bourbon maturation; it's possible other types were used, as well, though.
Bruichladdich Bere Barley 2010
Scotland/Islay - Single Malt
Price: USD 70 (2025)
Age Statement: 8 Years
Strength: 50% ABV
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled 2010, bottled 2019
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 9 months; bottles at 100% (blind tasting), 90% (blind tasting), 80%, and 70% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Musty and very vegetal - smells oily, with a bit of sharpness, too. Sour, grainy malt mixes with herbal notes of eucalyptus; there is a bit of fruit, specifically stone fruit and rotting banana. There's a strong fermentation side to this profile - yeasty, with a light funk and some youthful spirit notes.
Palate: A medium thickness for the mouthfeel; much more fruity on the palate, with peaches, tinned pears and pineapple, a bit of orange - feels a bit tropical. There's still a strong theme of malt, too, bringing soft herbal notes and some spice along with it - anise and white pepper, maybe cinnamon.
Finish: Medium length, with lingering fruits of pear, lemon-lime soda, and musty peach. It's a bit fizzy, and then the vegetal malt returns: sour fermentation notes, vanilla, chalk, a bit of hay. Honey adds a nice sweetness in the aftertaste, but it also tastes quite young.
Final Note: One of the rare times we've struggled to connect with a Bruichladdich product. It isn't a bad whisky, but the profile is so unique and sharp at times, it's a whisky that we would need to be in a very specific mood to dig into. It does have a wide range of flavors - it changed every time we tried it, giving us many different facets to the flavor profile. It definitely shows a bit of youth, too, but the freshness of the spirit allowed the fruity notes to stand out. For us, the palate was a big improvement from the nose - it didn't smell particularly appealing.
Value-wise, this bottle is okay. It's hampered a bit by the fact that we didn't give it a great score; on the other hand, $70 does seem very fair for an interesting whisky from a great distillery with good bottling specifications. This bottle could be worth picking up, but it might not fit everyone's preferred profile.
Our Average Rating: 5.7 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 5.52
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other reviews of unpeated Bruichladdich whiskies:
Review #341 - Bruichladdich 18 Year
Review #330 - Bruichladdich 26 Year Black Art 08.1
Review #128 - Bruichladdich Black Art 09.1 29 Year
