Side by side : The Fisherman's Retreat Edition 9

I've written about @FishRetreat a number of times before, a restaurant in the Twine Valley at the edge of the Pennine Hills around 15 miles north of Manchester. They are also an Independent Bottler selling Bruichladdich and Arran whiskies matured  in wine casks.

Their latest release is a 10yo Bruichladdich - let see what it's like!

This Edition, like the Edition 8 Arran before it, has been matured in a Yalumba Viognier White Wine barrel.

"Viognier sells for around £10 a bottle offering aromatic, unoaked, refreshing white with lovely peach flavours, expertly crafted by the Yalumba team who specialises in the Viognier grape – in fact this was one of their first organically produced wines. Delicious with fish or poultry dishes."

Let's see what these are like:

Dram	2011 10yo	2011 10yo Cask Strength
Characteristics	50% ABV NCF, Natural colour 512 bottles	64.8% ABV NCF, Natural colour 100 bottles
Distillery notes	The first ever and only expression of its style for this fantastic distillation from Bruichladdich. This 10 year old Rhinns has been exclusively matured in a hand selected Viognier white wine barrel direct from the Yalumba winery in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Dark gold in the glass, swirls leave a hairline crack on the glass which beads up quickly to form an inverted crown eventually falling as slow thin legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls leave a hairline crack on the glass which takes a little longer to bead up. Forms an inverted crown eventually falling as slow thin legs.
Nose	Wow - very interesting - a little smoke? a little salinity, loads of tropical fruit: pineapple, mango, kiwi; and some honey hints. There's a little perfume note too.	The smoke isn't here on the stronger sibling, but the rest of the nose is pretty similar - salted honey and that perfume note over the top of tropical fruit.
Palate	Thick creamy arrival, a little soapy? Peppery spice and tropical fruit dance on the tongue: pineapple, mango and apricot. The perfume note from the nose is back - Turkish Delight maybe but a little off putting. There's some honey, citrus zest and pine needle hints. Dry as the liquid disappears.	Again a thick creamy arrival, again a little soapy. The spice and tropical fruit are here but with more sweetness - salted honey? The citrus note is more pronounced - lemon zest biting at the tongue and very dry as the liquid disappears. Unfortunately that perfume note is back too.
Finish	Long, dry and sweet with a little mint.	Long, dry, tropical fruit sweetness and that perfume note...
Overall	That smoke note on the 50% dram was interesting - only on the nose, not the palate - unusual for a Bruichladdich. There's not too much difference between the pair - the stronger sibling offering more in the way of spice and citrus - a little more complex. But this is the first Fisherman's Retreat Edition that I've been disappointed with - that perfume notes runs through the nose, palate and finish and, for me, is just a little off putting. Try them and let me know what you think?

Many thanks to @FishRetreat for the samples.

Fisherman's Retreat have bottles of their Edition 9 for sale on their website. The whisky will go on pre-sale on Monday 14th March priced at £65.00 for the 50% and £140 for the 50% and 64.8% pair. It will then go on general sale on Monday 21st March at £75 & £160.

I've tried a few Editions from Fisherman's Retreat now, I wrote about how impressive the Edn 1, 4 & 6 were here, and compared the 6 to a similar Distillery Bottling here (and 7 here and 8 here!).

Fisherman's Retreat Releases:

Edn	Distillery	Year	Age	Cask	ABV
9	Bruichladdich	2011	10yo	Yalumba Viognier White Wine	64.8% & 50%
8	Arran	2007	7yo	Yalumba Viognier White Wine	60.4% & 50%
7	Bruichladdich	2011	8yo	Yalumba Octavius Red Wine	50.4%
6.1	Bruichladdich	2007	14yo	Rivesaltes French Wine then 2 years in  Yalumba Fortified wine cask	50.4%
6	Bruichladdich	2007	12yo	Rivesaltes French Wine	50.4%
5	Port Charlotte	2008	10yo	Château Haut-Brion	54%
4	Arran	2013	5yo	Yalumba Octavius Red Wine	54%
3	Bruichladdich	2008	7yo	Ex Buffalo Trace Bourbon & Yalumba Muscat	65%
2	Arran	1997	15yo	First fill Ex-Sherry Hogshead	53.8%
1	Bruichladdich	2007	5yo	Ex Buffalo Trace Bourbon & Yalumba Muscat	59.6%