Bruichladdich 3D3 Norrie Campbell

Named in honour of the last traditional peat cutter on Islay. This malt is apparently made from three vintages, three warehouses and three different peating levels hence 3D3. This also happens to be the third edition of the 3D line which is now defunct (I think).

The spirit is pale and provides strong phenolic smoky fragrance immediately on opening the bottle, very medicinal and quite dry. For those that like this sort of attack on the sinuses it’s blissful, but it’s not abounding in complexity.

A light middleweight in terms of body, but you hardly notice with the smoky phenols attacking your taste buds. A strong smoother peaty medium dry undercurrent is present too along with some salty ozone, flavours of unripe banana and a sweetness the origin of which I can’t pin down to a particular flavour.

The phenols are the dominant influence right through to the finish which is quite long and dry. Not perhaps a drink to enjoy more than one of, but the relentless waves of smoke, phenol and peat are satisfying.

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