Being Berry Bros. & Rudd’s newest, youngest buyer has its fair share of challenges and a tremendous plethora of benefits. After five years, to have responsibility for around one fifth of the range of products Berrys sell is a real honour. Let no-one in my position tell you they don’t love their path through life. Equally, let no-one in my position tell you they could do any other thing. If they tell you they don’t love it or tell you they could stop it, then they’re simply not doing it right.

So, for those of you who need a bigger fix of spiritual passion than @BBRrob on Twitter can provide, allow me to expound some more fully furnished musings on the various Spirits I’ve had the ‘arduous’ task of tasting for you this week:

Berrys’ Own Selection (BOS) Bruichladdich 1991 50.1% Cask #2996

This Bruichladdich shows hazelnut, a touch of sea air, some milk chocolate, salted caramel, a tiny lick of peat and even some pear and rhubarb on the nose. Lovely biscuity-peat comes through on the palate with gentle citrus peel. This is beautifully balanced, a long, elegant finish on muscovado sugar (without the sweetness!) and peach skins. Truly whisky for all seasons.

Berrys’ Own Selection Cal Ila 1980 55.6% Cask #4938

Gorgeous! Nutty peat on the nose, backed up by cooked lemon, maybe a touch of gentian and something like ‘chocolate’ bourbon cream biscuits. Some tiny flickers of initial sweetness on the palate from the oak are swiftly quashed by a wave of peat and leather. As would be expected at this age, everything has come together beautifully, nicely integrated flavours of tobacco and some slightly burnt stone-fruit. A touch of water brings out some almost grassy/agave notes and maybe under-ripe melon. Readily apparent but deftly balanced wood and a briny tang finishes things off nicely. Serious stuff!

A quiet week this week, but a few new releases slated for rigorous ‘assessment’ in the next seven days. Potential highlights include two distilleries never before bottled by Berrys, at least not in the ‘modern era’, and Doug McIvor’s (our Spirits Manager) continuing series of casks of cask strength – 1997 Clynelish.

Send me your questions and comments. Start, or continue, your travels along the thoroughfare of Spirits. Indulge me (and yourself) by following @BBRrob on Twitter and join my journey through the fascinating, never-ending world of delicious, distilled sensations.