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| Hello, that is certainly one of our (virtually) every day tastings. Santé! |
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January 3, 2022
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Fairly
just a few
Bun
na
hab
hains
What’s a little bit troublesome is to keep away from the peaters as some are labelled as ‘Bunnahabhain’ as an alternative of Moine or Staoisha or stuff. Until we’d simply let all of it go and see what occurs…
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Bunnahabhain 14 yo 2004/2019 (46%, The Whisky Lodge, Orcines, refill sherry butt, cask #3599) 
At all times proud of this sequence, many are fairly ‘pure’, no matter which means. Color: mild gold. Nostril: it’s a very coastal one, it is not that usually that you simply come throughout this fashion that will show some kelp, seashells, then grass and cider apples in addition to a little bit mineral wax, or engine oil. It isn’t a peater. Mouth: as all the time the 46-strength is ideal. That is very salty, to the purpose the place you’d virtually imagine that there is some peat too, whereas there’s no. Apart from that we discover leaves and peelings, grass, seaweed (wakame), lemon zests and, for sport, a small oyster. End: lengthy, tight, fairly peppery and salty, ‘inexperienced’, and certainly nonetheless coastal. Grassy, enormously bitter aftertaste, with some quinaquina. A contact of coconut within the remaining signature. Feedback: a lovable tight and bitterish drop, with out a lot sherry if any. I am certain this could go effectively with oysters or gravlax.
SGP:361 – 86 factors. |
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Bunnahabhain Moine 8 yo 2012/2021 (57.6%, The Whisky Blues, cask #0001349, 315 bottles) 
Charming label however there, this can be a peated Bunnahabhain. Color: straw. Nostril: we regularly point out Laphroaig’s medicinal aspect however we’re virtually in a hospital right here. Big tincture of iodine, mercurochrome, arnica, varied embrocations, bandages, then seawater and a reasonably rubbery smoke, though it might all stay tight and extremely centered. Celeriac in brine. With water: extra coal tar, previous ropes, Barbour grease… Mouth (neat): extraordinarily compact, on tar, smoke, seawater and lemons. Millimetric drop (not saying it is small, naturally). Within the background, a grassy grittiness that will remind me of some fashion of the Jamaican rum Monymusk. This emotions of crunching some unripe olives and Seville oranges from the timber (which all vacationer would do… as soon as.) With water: sweeter, simpler, with a little bit menthol. End: lengthy, a little bit medicinal once more. Uncooked rhubarb and lemon. Feedback: maybe a little bit W.I.P., however glorious, if nonetheless a wee tad simplistic at this level.
SGP:466 – 84 factors. |
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Bunnahabhain 11 yo 2009/2020 (50.2%, Earlskine, 1st fill sherry, 132 bottles)
With certainly one of Da Vinci’s flying innovations on the label, or is it Baron Munchausen’s? Color: gold. Nostril: oh cool, very long time no previous copper cash and steel polish on little Whiskyfun! Add pink cabbage stewed in liquid shoe polish plus most likely a little bit eggplant-and-asparagus soup and you will get the image. Some lamp oil too, in addition to the anticipated walnut wine from the sherry. Tough nostril, I imply the nostril is beautiful however this fashion would not all the time bode effectively for the palate, let’s have a look at… With water: stylish and really amontillado-y. Cross the olives and the jabugo please. Mouth (neat): effectively, there is a large sherryness for certain and certainly truffles and spent engine oil, however that is all very superb, not extreme in any respect, and reasonably a part of a registered fashion, if I’ll say so. Love the walnuts and the notes of bone-dry Madeira. With water: certainly, all superb, dry sherry all over, oak spices, cinnamon mints, extra walnuts… End: lengthy, with some tobacco, walnuts, spicy raisin bread and extra dry Madeira within the aftertaste. Feedback: precisely the alternative of the ultra-clean Orcines, however I discover it simply as glorious. Not a quite common fashion of sherry monster.
SGP:461 – 86 factors. |
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Bunnahabhain Staoisha 7 yo 2013 (58.9%, The Collaboration, Whisky Store Neumarkt, Port Charlotte wine barrique end, 284 bottles)
Do you imagine in round financial system? All we might want now could be a winemaker who’d make wine once more on this barrique, and presto. I’d simply guess that you simply’d have to perform a little rejuvenation now and again, so a little bit scratching and charring. Till the staves have change into as skinny as cigarette paper… By the best way I do not know if there are any variations between the Moines and the Staoishas. Color: white wine. Nostril: no wine in sight and so far as the PC’s involved, I am certain I might really feel it in an Auchentoshan, however definitely not in a Staoisha. Or I’d be bragging… Lengthy story quick, iodine, bandages, rubber boots, seawater, inexperienced lemons, kippers, peat smoke. Merely pristine and pristinely easy. With water: I might swear I am feeling a Port-Ellen aspect. A barely acetic aspect, fairly some tar, contemporary concrete, tarmac, muddy fields… Mouth (neat): pure peat and limoncello, with one or two oysters. Fats mouth really feel. With water: the Port Charlotte might really feel a wee bit. Graphite oil, some fattish tar… Not too certain, actually. End: lengthy and actually very tarry. Ashy aftertaste. Feedback: it is good enjoyable to attempt to discover your bearings right here. I am questioning if that barrique wasn’t reasonably comprised of Allier oak reasonably than Tronçais. Why do you say I should be jesting?
SGP:557 – 85 factors. |
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Bunnahabhain Staoisha 7 yo 2013/2021 (64.1%, La Maison du Whisky, Artist Collective 5.0)
Boy are these all younger. I’ve identified vodkas that have been older again within the Seventies. Color: white wine. Nostril: a contemporary boosted one. Butterscotch offers it away, all the time. Smoked mocha, cappuccino, way more butterscotch but, a pack of Werther’s Authentic, then spearmint and crab truffles. With water: again to the seashore, with seaweed and oysters. Bandages are again too. Mouth (neat): huge, that is virtually limoncello, distilled and aged in heated new oak. Now cautious, 64%+… Maintain on, would not it destroy Omicron? With water: I see, extra limoncello, fudge, olive brine, and simply an enormous quantity of smoke. End: very lengthy, peaty, lemony, salty… Some eucalyptus syrup too. Feedback: completely within the fashion of Dr Swan. What’s miraculous is that we have not discovered any vanilla. By the best way, whether or not trendy or not, I believe it is a sensible drop at simply 7. The fashion of a sensible new world distillery made in Victorian services on Islay. Just a little mad…
SGP:567 – 87 factors. |
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Bunnahabhain 12 yo 2009/2021 (67.1%, Quaich Bar Singapore, sherry butt, 520 bottles) 
They’d a wonderful OB for them just a few months or years in the past. This one’s been bottled at a murderous power (let me name my lawyer) and was most likely saved in a dry and heat place, because the power certain went up. In a gallery proper beneath Glasgow Central Station? Color: gold. Nostril: truffles and black nougats, it appears, however we can’t push our luck. Vittel, to our rescue! With water: I am having a little bit hassle discovering the fitting dilution, however I do discover a little bit miso past all of the walnut wine and cake. There’s some coconut (bourbon fashion) however to be frank, I am unsure you can carry down such a spirit from 67 to 45% vol. inside solely minutes. That is the bounds of this sort of train. Mouth (neat): feels good, nutty and cakey. Maybe some ginger marmalade? However… With water: a wee feeling of previous grain whisky, bourbon certainly, with notes of varnish and coconut. It sort of misplaced me. End: medium. Feedback: look, we’ll put a conservatory rating and hold just a few cls that we’ll now scale back and rebottle till the following Bunny session. One thing is not precisely proper and that is not the unique spirit.
SGP:630 – 80 factors. |
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Bunnahabhain 19 yo 2001/2021 ‘Ester Elektion’ (54.3%, The Whisky Present London 2021, Superheroes of Flavour, sherry butt)
With a portrait of our good friend Daybreak Davies MW on the label. I’ve first learn ‘Easter Elections’ and could not not consider Monsieur Macron right here… Color: gold. Nostril: again to earth, actually. Superior earthy and rooty notes, turnip and celeriac, then patchouli and bidis (zen!), then raisins and a little bit mint sauce. Some mead too, in addition to a little bit linseed oil. With water: typical ‘straightforward’ Bunnahabhain, honeyed and nutty. A drop of ale, certainly one of stout, certainly one of PX. Mouth (neat): a little bit hotter and richer, rounder too, with a slice of pecan pie, some chicory espresso (Ricoré), muscovado, fruitcake, chestnut honey, cinnamon and raisin rolls… With water: similar, with extra malt and cough syrup. Some candy thick beer within the aftertaste. End: medium, with oranges beginning to present up. Oranges do work in any end. Feedback: the rounder aspect of Bunnahabhain, super-good.
SGP:551 – 86 factors. |
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Maybe one or two older Bunnies…
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Bunnahabhain 31 yo 1989/2021 (41.5%, The Whisky Blues, hogshead, casks #5759+5770, 265 bottles) 
Beautiful gloomy label. Extra dying steel than blues in case you ask me, however aesthetically gorgeous certainly. Color: straw. Nostril: maintain on, watch this! Haut-Brion blanc, or Laville proper, with some honeysuckle, colza oil, kiwis, a little bit iron, pebbles, cider, a drop of Jerez vinegar, a variety of humus, damp earth, previous wine barrel, dough roll, mead… Nicely I am discovering this nostril simply wonderful, advanced, and so very old-Bunnahabhain. Mouth: such decrease pure strengths are all the time a little bit scary (unnatural ones too I’ve to say), and certainly it is unusual that these ones would fetch 90+ in my e-book, however this very one’s refreshingly alive, filled with tiny herbs and white, inexperienced or yellow berries, with varied pale honeys, softer beers, plums, and certainly a sense of wine. An previous white Pessac-Léognan, for instance… End: medium, completely nervous, even a little bit tart, advanced, with simply drops of coconut and vanilla essences from the cask. Feedback: drinks like wine. As for blues, why not that reasonably unknown lazy monitor by The Stranglers, not precisely blues however definitely bluesy, referred to as ‘One other Camden Afternoon’? The LP’s cowl was as gloomy as this Bunny’s label, test it out, it is on YouTube.
SGP:551 – 90 factors. |
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Bunnahabhain 33 yo 1987/2021 (53.4%, Michiel Wigman, Prometheus, 94 bottles)
A small outturn however small is usually lovely in whisky. Color: gold. Nostril: waxes made on Islay, effectively I imagine these batches have been the waxiest anybody ever made on the Queen of the Hebrides. Certainly, there is a Clynelish-quality to this, plus citrons and quinces in addition. That is beeswax and overripe apples galore. With water: apple juice, beeswax, pollen, contemporary quinces, greengages. Typical smooth Bunnahabhain from that period. The official 12s that got here out within the mid-to-late Nineties have change into extremely drinkable, by the best way. Mouth (neat): splendid, salty, lemony, with quinces, honeydew, mead time and again, and dried bananas. It’s possible you’ll add to {that a} dollop of previous cognac. With water: reacts very effectively to water and begins to show lime leaves, camphor… and a little bit leek. End: not the longest ever but it surely’s advanced and even refreshing. One thing chartreuse-y and a little bit oak within the aftertaste. Oh and overripe apples. Feedback: hope our mates within the Netherlands are doing effectively and that they do not drink an excessive amount of now that they are in lock-down once more. We’re not at time of writing, however issues might have modified earlier than we publish these awful strains…
SGP:461 – 90 factors. |
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Maintain on, one other very younger Staoisha simply in, let’s have it as a bonus…
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Bunnahabhain Staoisha 6 yo 2013/2019 (59.1%, Whisky Facile, bourbon hogshead, cask #10536, ‘I am the Fury of the Storm’) 
There’s a variety of Staoisha round, is there not. Color: very pale white wine. In fact you will not discover any white wine this pale. Nostril: candy straightforward peat. Smoked granny smith, lemons, a little bit brine, and an previous coal pit in an previous home (in an previous city, yeah proper). Narrowness and ease are a few of this fashion’s foremost belongings. With water: chalk and wool. Mouth (neat): pristine, good. Do not get me improper, it’s extremely slim and maybe even a little bit dumb, but it surely’s like a Rolex, all you are asking I that it might stay correct. That is very correct, focussed, on oysters, lemon juice and kippers. Smoked almonds too. With water: does it want water. As soon as once more it acquired chalkier. Extra oyster juice too, plain seawater… End: lengthy, sharp, ultra-vertical. And correct. Feedback: I suppose you get it, it is the accuracy that is fairly exceptional on this one. Or the purity. A mere grain of mud within the motion and it might lose, say 3 factors. And a variety of accuracy.
SGP:367 – 88 factors. |
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