Bunnahabhain 12 yo (40%, OB, UK, 1980s, 75cl)
I fondly recall a 12yo litre bottle from the 1990s that I had recently and loved (WF 88). Let's go back even further with this old 80s bottling. Colour: gold. Nose: luscious! Beautifully soft, fragrant, leafy sherry overlaid with green fruits, cellar must, walnuts, aged limes, balsamic and gentle rancio. Old school and totally charming - also without any hint of OBE so far. Mouth: here the low ABV and probably a bit of caramel hold things back initially, however with some time these same wonderful leafy, tobacco-tinged sherry aspects come through. Herbal wines, walnuts, fruit loaf, sultanas and some nicely salty, resinous and earthy touches too. Extremely pleasurable quaffing whisky that would kill many OB Macallan 10yos from the same era. Finish: medium, warming, herbal, with many dried dark fruits, more walnuts, caffe latte and milk chocolate. Comments: Hard to be against such a charming wee dram. It's easy to say this about almost any old OB from this era, but this at 46% + would be 92 point material by now for sure. I just adore these early Bunna 12s.
SGP: 651 - 89 points.

Bunnahabhain 7 yo 2013/2020 (57.5%, Cadenhead for Whisky Market Cologne, bourbon barrel, 234 bottles)
One from this ongoing series that Cadenhead do for their own shops. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: obvious youth, in the form of bread starter, yeasty washback, young calvados, grist and tart green apple peelings. I also find some citrons, pilsner beer and bailed hay. Perfectly charming young Bunna. With water: I find it simpler now, on bakelite, plain cereals, more assorted beers and ink. Mouth: pretty hot at first, more impressions of proving bread, sourdough starter, blanc du blanc champagne, lemon rind and something like parsley dressed with petrol. You feel the youth but I think it works quite well, you just have to be in the mood. With water: still that yeasty/autolytic vibe, but richer now, supported by some white pepper, asparagus (white of course Serge), mineral oils and some thicker notes of hessian. Finish: good length and nice bready richness, malt extract, bitter ales, sunflower oil, lanolin and citrus peels. Comments: I increasingly find myself enjoying younger whiskies these days, perhaps because quite a few newer producers are coming along and making excellent whiskies at younger ages. But not only those guys it seems, this is a very fine young Bunna. Although, I would hazard that it would probably be just as enjoyable in highball form.
SGP: 461 - 83 points.

Port Askaig 45 yo 1968 (40.8%, Elixir Distillers, five refill sherry butts, 1200 bottles)
I am 'reliably informed' of the origins of this one…Colour: deep gold. Nose: old fino sherry, banana skins, lime oil, hessian, fir wood and verbena. Perfectly aromatic and still beautifully fresh and coastal. Sandalwood, mineral oils, pot pourri and green tea with lemon. Beautiful! Mouth: soft but the arrival is still very 'Bunna' with these light nutty tones, groundnut oil with lemon peel, mineral oils, pineapple, herbal cough medicines, miso, vapour rubs and ripe exotic fruits with gentle waxy tones. Old but excellent and just teetering on the edge. Finish: long, quite herbal, medical, nicely bitter with citrus piths, pollens, more hessian and wee camphor notes. I find liquorice and verbena in the aftertaste. Comments: there's some fragility around the edge, but it remains undeniably extremely pleasurable old Bunna that held onto an impressive amount of freshness and elegance. And, probably most importantly of all: class!
SGP: 562 - 90 points.

Bunnahabhain 12 yo 2009/2021 (52.1%, Lady Of The Glen, cask #188, refill hogshead, 257 bottles)
Colour: pale white wine. Nose: sea salt, salt cured white fish, lemon infused olive oil, white flowers, mineral salts and some very gentle wood ashes. Modern, pure and very precise peated Bunna. With time it loosens up slightly and becomes a little oilier and fatter. With water: herbal scented smoke, crushed aspirin, sardines and some nicely grubby notes of puffer smoke and boilers. Mouth: lovely arrival, all on sea salt and malt vinegar with further impressions of chip fat, metal polish, mineral salts again, tar, creel nets, wee sooty notes and charred pine wood. Bigger than the nose suggested but feels very quaffable thanks to a tidy ABV. With water: excellent salty, tarry, white pepper, seawater, grapefruit juice, TCP and again these slightly fatter and greasier notes of mechanical oils, tar and boiler smoke. Big whisky that manages to be simultaneously very quaffable. Finish: long, wonderfully salty, peppery, tarry, hot calamari, paprika, lemon juice and iodine. Comments: I love the tension here between this more pure, chiselled style and its fatter, more oily and 'dirty' aspects. Great and very typical 'Moine' I would say. And hats off to LOTG for a smart selection.
SGP: 377 - 88 points.