Bunnahabhain 9 year old bourbon finish - distillery bottle (58.1%)


Last year, my wife and I made our annual visit to Islay - this time for the Feis Ile. It was our first time at the festival and, as you can imagine, we had an amazing time. It's such a beautiful island and when that's combined with world-class whisky, well, you really can't go wrong.

On Friday, June 2, we made our way to Bunnahabhain for their open day. The sun was shining, the food was great and the whisky was flowing. We attended a warehouse tasting which was wonderful, and then it was time to relax in the sunshine with lots more whisky.

But before I settled down on the pier to take a few snaps of the breathtaking views across to Jura, a visit to the distillery shop was in order. I only purchased a small 20cl bottle of this 9-year-old bourbon finish, which was hand-filled at Warehouse 9 on the day before our visit. 

Why only a small bottle? Well, after attending the open days at Caol Ila, Laphroaig, Bowmore and Kilchoman earlier that week - along with a stop at Lagavulin AND a trip to Campbeltown before that, I had picked up what can only be described as a ridiculous amount of whisky. I was concerned that our car might be too heavy for the ferry, overloaded as it was with fine single malts!

On the nose, this has a massive amount of vanilla, custard cream biscuits, icing sugar, royal icing, sponge cake, donuts and meringues. Wow! There's also raspberry pavlova, white pepper, pine needles, Edinburgh rock, dried banana chips and slices of hard pear.

On first taste, the Bunna has a fruity, liquorice flavour, with some Plasticine, pepper and is slightly soapy. Ladies and gentlemen, this needs water! That's better. Lots of white fruits now and it has a sugary sweetness combined with cinnamon, vanilla and a light toffee. There's also something green and herbal going on in the glass. 

The finish is spicy, with creamy vanilla, black pepper, lemon rind and faint kiwi fruit. There's also dry wood, white coffee and some smoke - but not peat.

Yeah, this is good stuff - and you know what? I should have bought a bigger bottle!

Welcome to Bunnahabhain

The pier at Bunnahabhain - with views across to Jura

Comments