For this side by side I've gone back to Islay's most northern distillery Bunnahabhain, picking four distillery exclusive cask strength drams showing the breadth of their output.
Let's see what they are like.
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| Distillery. Photo: misswhisky.com |
Bunnahabhain, which means ‘mouth of the river’ in Gaelic, was built in 1881 at the mouth of the Margadale Spring on the shores of the Sound of Islay near to Port Askaig. Formed as the Islay Distillers Company by William Robertson (of Robertson & Baxter a wholesale whisky blender) in partnership with Greenlees Bros (a Campbeltown company which owned Hazelburn distillery). The distillery was build to supply whisky for blending, it formed the key component in three R&B blends: Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark and Black Bottle. In 1887 Bunnahabhain merged with Glenrothes to form Highland Distilleries.
The first spirit flowed in 1883. In 1963 the floor maltings were removed and the number of stills doubled to 4. During the boom of single malts at the end of the 1980s single malts were launched with the tag-line ‘the unpronounceable malt', some current releases still share that practice! The distillery was closed between 1982 and 2004. Around 1998 the company changed it's name from Highland Distilleries to Highland Distillers and then in 1999 to Edrington Group.
Whilst Bunnahabhain was closed in 2003 the distillery was sold to Burn Stewart who six years later went bust, the distillery was then sold to Distell, it's long-term South African distributor, in 2013.
A stainless steel rack and plough mash tun with a copper dome are used to make the wash, mostly lightly peated (2-3oom) with some peated (35-40ppm) runs known as Moine (peat in Gaelic) or by indie bottlers as Staoisha (the name is taken from the nearby Loch Staoisha where the distillery gets it cooling water from).
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| Mashtun. Photo: http://lenstalk.com/ |
Six Oregon pine washbacks ferment the wash for up to 100 hours.
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| Washbacks. Photo: http://lenstalk.com/ |
Two Wash stills and two Spirit stills using shell and tube condenser distil a new make to around 69% ABV.
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| Still room. Photo: Islay Pictures Photoblog |
On site dunnage warehouses, close to the sea, are used to mature the spirit.
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| Warehouse. Photo: David Brodie |
Let's see what the whisky is like:
| Dram | 2007 13yo Single Cask #110762 | 2002 15yo Feis ile 2018 | 2003 15yo | 2008 11yo Single Cask #3212 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | 55.7% ABV Ex-bourbon | 58.2% ABV Spanish oak finish | 57.4% ABV Amontillado sherry cask finish | 54.2% ABV Manzanilla sherry cask |
| Distillery notes | Warehouse 9 - Hand-Filled Exclusive | Starting life in 2002 in whisky refill casks, this whisky was left to mature for 11 long years, before being transferred to Spanish Gran Reserva barrels in 2013 to mature once more in our coastal warehouses. Nose: Oak with grape and dried fruits, toffee, nuts and subtle spice. Palate: Coats the mouth with rich Spanish brandy and dark chocolate, lightly oaked and gently spiced. Finish: Sweet grape and subtle spice, long and lingering | This Amontillado Cask Finish limited edition started life on the 20th of February 2003 in refill hogsheads before being transferred to Amontillado sherry hogsheads on the 26th of February 2016 where it spent two more years maturing in our coastal warehouses. Nose: Rich oak and roasted nuts, dried fruit, treacle toffee, dark chocolate, coffee, berries and vanilla. Palate: Sweet dried fruit, roasted nuts, rich oak, hints of liquorice, espresso coffee, sweet malt and dark chocolate. Finish: Long and lingering, with hints of dried fruit and dark chocolate. | Warehouse 9 - Hand-Filled Exclusive Manzanilla cask matured single malt. Bottled in February 2020 at 54.2%. This 11-Year-Old, matured in warehouse 9 has rich flavours of nuts, fruits and toffee, with a salted caramel finish. |
| My thoughts: | ||||
| Appearance |  | |||
| Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs. | Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs. | Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs. | Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs. | |
| Nose | Orchard fruit, citrus, doughy bread and a little salinity. Stewed apples and pears with some big lemon zest notes. Fresh bread straight from the oven and a background of seaweed drying on the beach. | Dunnage warehouse notes just out of the glass - dried fruit, sweet strawberry jam, musty books. This has a little citrus edge to it too but the salinity has gone. Sweet nutty toffee notes. | Similar to the Spanish Oak - dunnage warehouse notes but less sweet. There's some herbal notes here and the nutty toffee is back too. | The same dunnage notes but this time it's all racked up a eleven. The youngest of the four but the strongest on the nose due to it being full term rather than a finish. This time it's treacle toffee, the nuts are there and a little balsamic vinegar note. |
| Palate | Thick oily arrival, sweet orchard fruit and citrus. Mouthcoating honey sweetness with a salty tang. A little peppery spice. A few more sips reveal tropical fruit notes - pineapple, kiwi, mango and a chalky note. Again a lot of citrus - lemon and lime juice - yummy! | Again thick and oily, sweet but with a spicy bite - very warming. There's orchard fruit - apples, pears & peaches but with dried fruit thrown in too - raisins, sultanas, dates, figs. Ginger spice bites at your tongue. Dry dark chocolate notes and a nutty toffee. There's a hint of salinity as the liquid disappears. | Again thick and oily, less sweet, more savoury - herbal even. Drying. The tasting notes suggest liquorice and coffee - they are spot on. Sage and thyme offer a herbal note alongside a little chalky salinity. The ginger spice from the Spanish Oak is here but a little more intense, the nutty chocolate cover toffee is also back - yummy! | We're still on the thick and oily but all the sweetness has gone, it's all very dry sherry notes with treacle toffee, cold coffee, dark chocolate. There's some seaside woody notes - an old fishing boat in the harbour (when was the last time you licked one of those?) The balsamic vinegar from the nose is here too - Yummy! |
| Finish | Lingering tropical fruit, citrus zest and a little salt. | Dry woody nutty notes lingering with a gingery spice. | Long warming dry herbal finish with a gingery spice. | Medium length dry wood notes with the balsamic vinegar and salt. |
| Overall | A yummy set of drams, mainly distillery exclusives. My trip to Islay was cancelled due to Covid but as soon as we are able I plan to be sitting in Warehouse No. 9 enjoying the brothers and sisters of some of these casks with David Brodie! You've got to think that the ex-bourbon single cask offers the typical distillery characteristics of unpeated Bunnahabhain - for me that's orchard / tropical fruit, citrus, a little maritime salinity and a peppery spice. The two sherry cask finishes were rather similar to each other, both adding sherry note complexity and more of a spice bite but wiping out most of the citrus and salt, the Amontillado added a little herbal element. The full term sherry finish in the Manzanilla cask took things to another level - the citrus was gone, but strangely the maritime notes were stronger. Manzanilla is a dry sherry and that effects the whisky giving acidic notes of balsamic vinegar and more maritime notes. For me this full term is better than the finishes, it changes the whisky a lot and the acidic and maritime notes suit my palate. | |||
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