Leave it up to me to enthusiastically buy a bottle of whisky, only to review it a year later. This Bunnahabhain was released for last year’s Feis Ile and much like several other brands the whisky is available through regular channels as well. There’s no information to batch size but with this still being available at the moment, for the original price, makes me think there’s quite a few bottles of this kicking around.

The whisky is matured in a mixture of casks. Bourbon casks on one hand and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks on the other. I don’t know if one is a maturation and the other a finish, there’s not a lot information to go on, with this one.

All that leaves us is whether it tastes nice or not. So, let’s just find out!

Sniff:
There’s a very thick syrupy sweetness to it, like date paste or soft dried plums. A lot of sweetness. There’s the more typical note of hay and salinity that is rather common in Bunnahabhain too. Some old coffee grounds too.

Sip:
The arrival has some white pepper, but is otherwise rather thin. The sweetness is toned down in such a way that it feels a bit consisted. It get’s a bit hotter after a while, with more hay, old barley and marram grass.

Swallow:
The finish luckily is consistent with the palate. Less hot, and more focus on the grassy, Islay-y notes. It has a bit of that Bunnahabhain dirtiness too.

It’s not a ‘clean’ whisky, but that something I rather like. What I like a lot less is that the nose is so inconsistent with what comes after. The nose shows the small PX casks a bit too much, compared to the palate and finish. Not Bunnahabhain’s best. Not their worst either.

83/100

Still available for about £ 80