Bruichladdich Yellow Submarine Reclassified Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky 14 Year Old

Released to mark Bruichladdich’s 25th anniversary, Yellow Submarine Reclassified revives one of the distillery’s best-loved cult bottlings and returns to a story that has become part of modern Bruichladdich folklore. It follows the earlier unpeated releases Whisky of Mass Distinction II: Yellow Submarine from 2005 and Yellow Submarine II: The Legend Resurfaces from 2018, taking its place within the distillery’s tongue-in-cheek Whisky of Mass Distinction series. That wider series began in 2004 after the distillery was mistakenly flagged by US Military Intelligence as a possible site for weapons of mass destruction, thanks to a large copper delivery intended for distilling rather than anything more sinister.

The Yellow Submarine story itself began in the summer of 2005, when Islay fishermen John Baker and Harold Hastie found a small bright yellow Ministry of Defence submarine off the coast of Islay and brought it ashore. The remotely operated sub remained on the island while arrangements were made for its collection, and Bruichladdich marked the moment with the release of the first Yellow Submarine bottling. The first bottles were famously presented to the Navy men who arrived at Bruichladdich pier to retrieve their lost vessel. Yellow Submarine III revisits that episode as one of three limited-edition releases created for the distillery’s 25th anniversary.

This latest edition was distilled from 100% Scottish barley and matured for 14 years in a recipe inspired by the original 2005 release, combining 75% first-fill bourbon casks with 25% French red wine casks. It spent its entire maturation on Islay, with every drop distilled, matured and bottled at Bruichladdich’s island home.