January 7, 2015

Bunnahabhain bottled 2014, vertically

It’s a fact, Bunnahabhain has become the malt that’s most bottled by the indies these days, while that rather used to be Caol Ila two or three years ago. I have to say it’s not easy to keep up, but let’s try… Oh and we’ll only have Bunnahabhain that was bottled in 2014.

Bunnahabhain 7 yo 2006/2014 (46%, Malts of Scotland, Gaja red wine hogshead, cask # MoS14010, 358 bottles)

Strange pedigree, I supposed that was a hogshead that was recoopered from some ex-Gaja barriques. Ex-Springbank? Certainly not first fill, the whisky would be much redder, especially if it was nebbiolo. Colour: salmony. Nose: it’s a peaty Bunny, and frankly, this time the red wine kind of works as far as I can tell. There are whiffs of rose-scented soap, then peonies and oranges, red peaches, and a little mulled wine, with the peat working as the spice combo. I rather like this! Mouth: funny and again, not bad at all, since balance has been found. It’s not very ‘whisky’ to tell you the truth, but I like this feeling of smoked marshmallows and oranges, as well as the ginger liqueur and the pepper that arises. Strange, but good! Finish: long, clean, still balanced, fruity and smoky, with something such as salted strawberries in the aftertaste. Comments: really a surprise, I had thought we’d start with a very ‘unlikely’ one. Seems like I rather failed. SGP:645 - 83 points.

Bunnahabhain 10 yo 2003/2014 (58.8%, La Maison du Whisky, Artist #4, sherry butt, cask #1149, 579 bottles)

Colour: dark amber. Nose: raisins and oranges! It’s the fresh fruitiness that first comes out, then some rather unusual spicy cigars, cloves, something like these Indonesian clove cigarettes (gudang garang), then quince and pomegranates for sure, a drop of muscatel… And then massive amounts of vanilla fudge and butterscotch. I have to say I find this superb, and certainly unusual. With water: patchouli and tobacco. Turns as cloudy as milk on a bad Beijing day. Mouth (neat): extremely rich yet kind of light, certainly bubblegumy, and very grassy. Haribo’s strawberry sweets, Turkish delights, pink peppercorns, then some peat coming out, as well as a little salt. Really unusual, what kind of sherry was that? With water: spicy chocolate and raspberry jam, plus a drop of brine. Was the sherry butt sourced in… Oporto? Finish: quite long, rather on crème de cassis, ginger, chocolate and smoke. More walnuts on the aftertaste. Comments: as unusual as the 2006, and of similar quality, I’d say. I’m not sure it really likes water. SGP:653 - 83 points.

Bunnahabhain 16 yo 1997/2014 (56.4%, The First Editions, refill hogshead, 170 bottles)

Ah, this should be more ‘natural’… And peaty. Colour: straw. Nose: indeed, it’s one of these slightly simple, yet fruity whistle-clean peaters from northern Islay. Peaches, beach sand, sea air, seashells, iodine, hay and pears. With water: quite perfect, clean peat, hay, seaweed and lemon. Mouth (neat): sweet peat, zesty, lemony, clean and concise. Very simple and very good. More peaty pepper after a few minutes – does that exist? A blade. With water: perfect balance between the lemon, the smoke, the brine and… well, that’s all but that’s already more than enough. Finish: quite long, very clean, on the same notes. Comments: gotta love this. These 1997 ‘moines’ are starting to bear the right age – and a resemblance to their closest neighbour C.I. SGP:456 - 87 points.

Another sixteen please…

Bunnahabhain 16 yo (55.6%, The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show 2014)

This un-vintaged baby might well be another 1997… Colour: straw. Nose: right-o, it’s the 1997, only with much more vanilla, fudge, butterscotch and white chocolate. The cask was much more active, obviously, or it’s even seen some newish US oak pretty recently. I think this works extremely well, because you’ve got both the cleanliness and the sexier vanilla. With water: the spirit wins, the vanilla’s been brought down, hurray! I even find wee hints of freshly cooked langoustines. Not kidding. Mouth (neat): impeccable zesty sharpy lemony sweet vanilla-ed peatiness. Not much to add, this is perfect, just a little, cough, cough, strong (S., you sissy!) With water: hi-def peater. Simple yet total pleasures. Finish: long zesty clean lemony briny peat. Comments: it seems that these ‘moines’ are currently losing their slightly ‘dull’ pearish fruitiness. It was worth the wait. SGP:456 - 88 points.

Bunnahabhain 1991/2014 'Oysters with Lemon Pearls' (46%, Wemyss malts, hogshead, 265 bottles)

Another Bunny by Wemyss… Colour: straw. Nose: a little older, a little smoother, with a little more fruits (pineapple and oranges), a touch of coconut and barley water, then some clean grapefruits and apples, and a milder, easier, slightly more complex peatiness. A discreeter peatiness, that is. As for the oysters, I protest, that’s rather whelks. Jo-king. Mouth: so good, so clean, so quaffable, so pure, so easy… And they were right, that would be oysters with lemon pearls. And a dash of black pepper. Finish: long, even more lemony. Zing! Comments: there, you have your muscadet at high strength to drink with your oysters! Seriously, this works extremely well, it’s in the same league as that ‘Seaweeds on the Rocks’ by Wemyss that we tried last year. Same batch, same purity. SGP:352 - 87 points.

Bunnahabhain 24 yo 1990/2014 (48.3%, The Whisky Agency, refill hogshead, 190 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: this is completely different. Very little peat this time, and rather a very delicate and complex flowery side, some acacia honey, plus aniseed, fennel and wormwood, plus damp earth and beach sand after a heavy shower. On Islay. Beautiful and kind of feminine. I’m sorry, ladies… Mouth: there certainly is a little smoke, and perhaps a little too much caramel/fudge (the feeling of Werther’s Originals is a bit too big for my taste), but other than that, we have a typical honeyed and orchardy Bunnahabhain, the style that’s the closest to that of most OBs. Not talking about the NAS oak-doped ones of course. Bakes apples, poached apples, honey and caramel sauce. A faint bitterness in the background, but that’s all right. Finish: of medium length, a little more tea-ish and green. Loses points now. Comments: very good, in my opinion, but the finish has got a little too much bitter oak. On the other hand, the spot was tricky after the peaters, so, kudos. SGP:541 - 85 points.

Break! But we’ll have more tomorrow…

Check the index of all Bunnahabhain I've tasted so far