Impression // Bruichladdich Black Art 08.1

Loyal readers of the blog know that when I have “Bruichladdich” or “Octomore” in the title of a blog post, that is automatically linked with an experience that surpasses the usual, venturing instead towards a realm of wonder and imagination. Take this most recent Black Art tasting, for example. Not just a simple digital tasting session, oh no. Brand ambassador Nick Baeyens had other, more secretive elements in mind for this one…

Text by Mickaël Van Nieuwenhove
Photography is © Bruichladdich

It all started with a wooden box with a little not attached to it: “Do not open”. The box vaguely smelled of herbs. Naturally, rebel that I am, I opened the wooden box, and discovered two fabric pouches (containing a ring, a jewel, a quartz cube, and shiny rocks), four candles with arcane symbols on them, a deck of tarot cards, a voodoo doll (which later turned out to be sage wrapped in string, silly me), and two sample bottles containing a mysterious liquid. If it weren’t for Nick having informed us about the new Black Art expression, I would’ve thought someone wanted to either a) poison me, or b) drug me, or even c) all of the above.

We were instructed to prepare ourselves for this mysterious tasting by listening to a Spotify playlist, simply called “Black Art 1994”. If you want to recreate this experience for yourself, please find the playlist here. Because I simply adore these type of things, and because I am a larper, and also because my girlfriend has a special effects make-up degree, I attended the tasting session with arcane symbols painted on my face. Evidence can be found on the FB page and the IG channel.

And then, we were asked to pour our samples and enjoy the whisky. Baeyens is not a fan of throwing too much information around, instead focusing on what we are smelling and tasting. With the Bruichladdich Black Art range, there’s not a lot of information to throw around anyways. Only the master distiller, Adam Hannett, knows which casks were used for this single malt. The information remains on the surface level, and it’s up to you to stop guessing and start enjoying. I like that.

With more than 200 types of casks available at the Bruichladdich warehouses, there’s not point trying to guess which casks were used. The Black Art expressions are mysterious liquids, born out of the chaos of the unknown. (Yeah, that sets the vibe).

Before we continue, here’s what we DO know about Black Art 08.1:

– Eighth in limited edition series
– Adam’s fourth Black Art release
– 1994 vintage
– 26 years old
– Un-peated Islay single malt scotch whisky
– Cask type – only Adam knows
– Cask strength of 45.1% alc./vol.
– 12,000 individually numbered bottles
– Matured entirely on Islay
– Non chill filtered
– Coloring free

See? Nothing that even remotely suggests what this might taste like, other than the tasting notes, which I’ve completely ignored. Instead, here’s what I tasted:

In the nose, I got the familiar green apple note, which is characteristic of Bruichladdich. It’s fresh, inviting, fruity, with grapes being added as you continue to ‘sniff around’. Then, a creamy note of butter, moving towards butter cake, even, and then a bit of caramel. There’s a drier, more woody element there as well. And also a meaty note. Like a dried meat scent. Puzzling!

On the palate, a nicely balanced dram, offering up a slight bitter note, vanilla, cherry, even a bit of grass. The liquid is slightly thicker than water, and is both warm and dry in nature. There’s some dried fruits in there as well, but it’s more subtle than present. The finish is drawn-out, and starts to warm up your inner being as you swirl it around. I’m left with an indistinct ‘light and fresh’ note as well. This dram demands your time and attention, without the promising of revealing its true nature. I can only say one thing for certain: I like it.

And then, suddenly, our tasting session was interrupted by a ‘tarot reader’, who guided us in preparing our own tarot reading session, ‘cleansing ourselves of any negative energy that might be drifting around. The lovely actress is Sofie Joan Wouters, and she played the part perfectly. Check out her IG channel here.

We also were informed that we all received a custom-made silver jewel necklace (15 individual and unique pieces), specifically created for this event by the Belgian jeweler Anaïs De Keyzer, whose work you can check out here. The tarot deck, by the way, was designed by Lisa Sterle, who wanted to update the traditional tarot deck with more inclusive imagery. More can be found about her project here.

All in all, another unique and fun tasting that brought culture and whisky closer together!