As discussed in my previous article, my recent travels in London had me keeping a keen eye on places to go to enjoy whisky. Well, I found a great place called "Albannach" located at/near Trafalgar Square and, ironically enough, directly facing Canada House. I brought Wifey and our daughter there to have lunch (delicious food, by the way) and to have a whisky or two.
We had a good time and service was very friendly as well. Fortunately but very normally, my daughter was very well behaved so we were able to have a relaxed go of lunch and I was able to spend some time enjoying the delicious whiskies I chose. Speaking of whisky, the Albannach has a very large selection (about 200 whiskies) and I decided to open up with the Laddie Classic - Scottish Barley from Bruichladdich since it was there and I have been waiting and waiting for it to be available in Canada.
Bruichladdich Laddie Classic Scottish Barley - 50% abv.
I reviewed the Laddie Classic Edition 01 previously and I was curious to see what the new treatment of the Classic was like especially with the decision to move up the alcohol to 50%. Here are some quick notes:
Nose: coastal with salt and vanilla and lemon.
Palate: Different than Edition 01 but still quite similar. Coastal and salty and nice with slick mouthfeel. Vanilla notes. Fresh and vibrant. A little water brings out more vanilla but it stays slick. The higher alcohol hasn't affected the "easy-to-drink" aspect of this whisky but does seem to have added some flavour and possibly some weight to the mouthfeel. The change is positive.
Finish: as before, lengthwise, and has some salted toffee in the finish too.
Nice! Top shelf any-time dram. I think Jim McEwan is doing all the right things at Bruichladdich.
After enjoying the Laddie Classic, I had some lunch and decided to spring (not cheap!) for the Ardbeg Supernova for desert. My wife was very nice to oblige. I really wanted to try the Supernova due to its reputation and rarity and the fact it has been seen as the only true competitor to the mighty Octomore.
Ardbeg Supernova - 2010 (I think) - 60.1% abv.
Colour: gold. Darker than octomore.
Nose: creamy smoke. Pickles and chocolate - sounds weird but it works. Some would say brine and chocolate. Some lemon as it opens? The nose isn't as in-your-face as most Ardbegs (corroborated by our friendly waiter) and this is interesting since this is peaked "in excess of 100 ppm phenols"
Palate: wow! Like octomore but different. Super creamy and chocolatey with big spicy chipotle hit and big smoke. Dries and smokes and heats on finish. Really big. Sweet and delicious. Tastes very high quality! I don't want to dilute it! Lots of islay notes like maybe pickled onions (or capers?), salt, but creamy and chocolatey and sweet too. Really, really good. Nice mouthfeel. Oddly, this fills in very well in place of desert.
Finish: smoke that goes and goes and goes. I'm ended up tasting this for a while after I left the Albannach!
People will inevitably ask which is better between this and Octomore. Honestly, the two are very similar. Octomore is more delicate than Supernova, in my opinion, which might make some lean towards it but the Supernova is fatter so, depending on the day... Both are tremendous. Something that tilts this battle in Bruichladdich's favour for me is that there are editions of Octomore done with wine finishes, etc. which allows more exploration of this type of whisky.
Anyway, off my soap box. Great venue, great food, and great whisky.
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