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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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March 19, 2021 |
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Bunnahabhains in disorder, part cinque |
And last, really. We may have a little more than just five but five days of Bunny in a row – I almost wrote in a raw – are more than enough. No? |
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Bunnahabhain 12 yo (60.4%, OB, hand-filled at the Distillery, Warehouse 9, Pedro Ximenez, cask #1635, 2019) 
Ah, PX. There sure is more PX in whisky today than there is in bottles of PX. Colour: amber. Nose: fumes and chocolate, gunpowder and ground coffee, touches of crushed cassis, truffles and gas, raspberry eau-de-vie. Classic PX, more or less. With water: rather more leather and ginger, which reminds me why I'm not a huge fan of PX in my whisky. Mouth (neat): really heavy, peppery and sweet, reminding me of some obscure, long-forgotten Outer-Mongolian sushi sauce. Teppanyaki sauce with green peppercorn and German blackberry wine. With water: the sweeter side comes out, but sour and bitter spices keep running the show. Finish: long, rather on peppered liquorice and even moe leather. A feeling of cabernet franc in the aftertaste. Comments: certainly good, and some people loved it, ah well it's just to my favourite style.
SGP:471 - 79 points. |
A young peaty palate cleanser and then some older Bunnies… |
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Bunnahabhain 9 yo 2009/20198 (58.8%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 5300 bottles)  Colour: white wine. Nose: wood smoke, cut grass, granny smith, greengages, sesame oil, green tea, lemon. With water: gets chalkier and a little petroly. I don't think many peated Bunnahabhains are clearly petroly. Mouth (neat): pretty hot and a little on foreshots (heads). We've known tutti-frutti eaux-de-vie that were a bit like this, that is to say good for making rubbing balms against rheumatisms. Sur that works. With water: way nicer once H2O's been added. Notes of mezcal, white rum, gentian, salt and olives… Once again a feeling of 'readymade margarita'. Finish: long, sharp, salty. Cardamom and urchin flesh. Comments: rather more rustic than the Small Batch we had yesterday.
SGP:366 - 83 points. |
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Bunnahabhain 16 yo 2002/2019 (51%, The Whisky Baron, bourbon hogshead, cask #3186, 258 bottles) 
Colour: white wine. Nose: very fresh, rather on fresh coriander, dill, lime, green apples, oysters, sea breeze, and a touch of custard. As close as you can get to the 'neighbour in the south'. Hints of creme eggs (Easter is around the corner, is it not).With water: more on some kind of lightly mentholated C.I. And oysters, kelp and lemon. No, no bread, no butter, and no Sancerre. Although, as far as Sancerres go… Mouth (neat): clean, pure, once again with this wee feeling of dill, or even pastis, or liquorice and aniseed. So much for 'the neighbour in the south', Marseille's not quite a neighbour. Touches of capsicum, kirschwasser, a touch of rubber, some nicer grapefruits. With water: it loves water. Gets narrower and cleaner. Lemon, seashells, smoked kippers, touch of vanilla. Finish: long, clean, salty, coastal. Touch of cardamom in the aftertaste. Comments: two drops of water does it much good.
SGP:466 - 87 points. |
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Bunnahabhain 30 yo 1990/2020 (45.5%, Hunter Laing, The Kinship, Virtual Feis Ile 2020, Edition 4, 451 bottles) 
Great series by HL, always very special. Really. It's a bit unclear whether this is a 1990 or a 1989, good sources diverge on that issue. I have hopes that this would be an early peater but if it isn't, we'll be just as pleased. Colour: white wine. Nose: oh! Damp chalk, petroly riesling, bandages and mercurochrome, rubbed mint leaves, lime juice, old chartreuse, oysters, limoncello. Wins you over after just one millisecond – which is not fair, is it. Mouth: dazzlingly fresh, coastal, citrusy and coastal (you said that twice, S.). Clearly one of my favourite Bunnahabhains of the last twelve months. A little green pepper, bitter almonds, eucalyptus drops, all kinds of oysters from the tiny flat ones to the big boys that are as fat as a T-bone, a little liquorice, pomelos, salty manzanilla (I know this is bourbon), one olive… Finish: same for a good length of time. Comments: only flaw, I knew this was going to be to my liking. Superb fresh drop and just more proof that age is absolutely not just a number. No whisky magicians will make this withing less than ten years, even with the cunningest 'wood technology'.
SGP:565 - 91 points. |
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Bunnahabhain 38 yo 1980/2018 (44.7%, Artful Dodger Whisky Collective, refill bourbon hogshead, cask #3474) 
I just love it when colours remain confidently 'white wine' over the many years. Colour: white wine. Nose: oh, some old herbal liqueur, with whiffs of caraway, liquorice, mint, aniseed, fennel seeds, eucalyptus… A touch of hessian and fresh concrete too, then some subdued fruitiness, rather around plums and green melons. Some kelp too, and perhaps touches of patchouli and bidis, not too sure where that came from. Some old hippy wandering throughout the distillery, back in 1980? A little soap too. Mouth: very bizarre this time. More soap, varnish, even ammonia, cardboard… We'll add a few drops of water to see if that goes away… With water: not quite. Plastics. Finish: rather long, soapy. Comments: brilliant nose, wrecked palate, that's the ways some cookies crumble. We might call this one 'Cleopatra', something may have happened, we'll try to try another bottle eventually.
SGP:272 - 75 points. |
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Bunnahabhain 35 yo 1976/2012 (48.8%, The Whisky Mercenary) 
We are, indeed, sometimes very late at Château WF. Colour: straw. Nose: fresh and rather on melons this time, with also notes of beeswax, tomato leaves, and perhaps a little putty. A little bread too, praline, leaves, fruit peelings… We're somehow in the middle of somewhere here, which is not an unpleasant feeling at all, this baby's just a little hard to describe and to pin down. Whisky for Alice in in Wonderland. Mouth: same feeling, with bitter oranges, sweet chili pepper liqueur (the name escapes me, ah yes, Ruby Blue)…Also mead and custard, nougat, bergamots, banana wine, a dryness that's reminiscent of fino sherry, some green walnuts too, marzipan… It's just that it's a whisky that's not semantically correct, if you see what I mean. In other words, an outlaw. Finish: medium, a notch grassier. Banana skins, walnut skins, touch of turmeric, grapefruit skin… And there, those tomato leaves yet again. Very peculiar. Comments: good fun to be had with this outlaw. Singular wood imposing its law over the years, I would say.
SGP:462 - 89 points |
Yet we should soon do this kind of hoopla again with Ben Nevis, or Ledaig, or Laphroaig, or Port Charlotte, or Ardbeg, or Stromness (try to spot the odd one out) … As those tend to accumulate at WF Towers. But plenty sure is no plague… |
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