The first edition of the Laddie 10 received a lot of lovin’ from the whisky community (and yours truly – see my review here) It was indeed a lovely young sort of dram, but well made, with a nice body, and an enticing palate, one that clearly felt older than its 10 year old maturation term. The first batch was indeed the very first bottling of a 10 year old distilled after the distillery was “resurrected” in 2000 , and it sold quite well, and at some point sold only at the distillery as stocks were dwindling. The 2nd batch was released late 2016, and consists of whisky matured in first-fill Bourbon, sherry and French wine casks. Bottled at 50% alc. (as opposed to 46% for Batch 1) vol. using Islay Spring water. with an outrun of 18,000 individually numbered bottles.
Bruichladdich 10 Year Old – The Laddie Ten Second Limited Edition , 50% abv , £51 
Nose: Initially fruity and honeyed, mainly on citrus and vanilla, quite creamy with sweet oak, yogurt filled ‘Ritter Sport’ chocolate bars, some autumnal leaves, a bit floral, ending with a very faint aroma of red apple peel.Quite delicate, and not as briny and lactic as the 1st edition – not Lactic at all, which is quite a surprise here (Good or bad, depending on your preference, right?), a bit yeasty with time..
Palate: The palate is more robust than the nose (good!), thicker and oilier than I had expected when sniffing the liquid; There is a nice fruity edge, with apple / peach and some more vanilla and toasted oak, with a pinch of ginger and some lemon peel, There’s a touch of faint sultana and vanilla custard with wood spice, and some wood char.
Finish: Long-ish, with more wood-char, the tiniest hint of smoke, citrus, and vanilla custard.
Conclusion:
If you compare it to Batch #1, this is clearly a gentler sort of Laddie, with not as much bite, and much less peat than the first batch. I think Batch #1 was creamier, and thicker on the palate, and batch 2 is somehow spicier, and fruitier. If you ask me, both are very good whiskies, each different, and clearly the vatting is quite different. I think I prefer the nose on batch #1, and the palate of batch 2 as it’s more complex, so It’s a tie almost, Batch #1 winning by points. Highly enjoyable stuff at any rate and a good not so bad VFM.
Score: 84/100
Ýour tasting-notes sound delicious for sure, but I have to disagree on the whole VFM-thingy. The current pricing (60 EUR in Germany) is just overly pretentious! What happened to the regular Laddi Ten? Since Bruichladdich currently sells a lot of young (8 years) and NAS bottlings, I guess they try to build up stocks of older Whiskys(?) BTW, reading that the “Classic Laddie” constitutes a “classic multi-vintage cuvee” made me almost fall off my chair from laughing (those marketing guys…). But hey, if demands are up, quality (and age) has to suffer…
Hey, I am willing to pay for good quality or ‘craft’ whisky, but this quality has to match the price-tag their charging me with.
-End of rant- (Sorry^^)
P.S.: I just scored a bargain on the Aberlour 15yo Double Cask and having read your post about tasting almost the entire Aberlour range, now I can’t wait to try it!
Cheers
Cato
well current pricing is outrageous across the board, so 60 Eur is good VFM 😉 haha
but i hear you.