Bruichladdich Sherry

The reason this makes an ideal accompaniment to Christmas is largely down to the nose, which is magnificent. Inhale deep and long, after holding onto the glass for five minutes to allow the whisky to reach body temperature and open up. It’s the closest thing I can find to brandy-drowned Christmas pudding in a glass. The sherry cask that was used must have been near faultless; such is the sweetness emanating from the drink that it masks the peat. You can sense there’s something dark and malevolent in the background, but to increase the terror you’re not fully sure what it is at this stage.

This is a thinking man’s whisky and one that should only be approached when you have ample time to give it the consideration and respect that it deserves. It also keeps out the night while in turn embracing it, the brooding peat will be the last thing you taste (along with the obstinate oak) but thankfully, unlike some distilleries, Bruichladdich don’t appear to use peat to mask or inhibit the other flavours from coming through (at least based on this bottling they don’t). My initial scepticism faded with each glass I had; this was a whisky that only got better as I went down the bottle, and one that I was sorry to see go.