Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 700ml

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Deriving from the Gaelic for ‘mouth of the river’, Bunnahabhain was founded in 1881 by William Robertson and brothers James and William Greenless. A very smooth, easy-drinking Islay malt, Bunnahabhain (pronounced ‘BOO-na-HAven’) closed and reopened twice during the twentieth century and eventually production was limited to a mere few weeks annually following Edrington's 1999 acquisition of previous owners Highland Distillers. Last year’s release has set quite a high bar for its successor. Let’s see if Bunnahabhain can turn in a repeat performance with this year’s entrant? Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old Cask Strength 2023 Edition – Review

Palate: Medium body with an olorosa center. The barley tries its best to keep up but the sherry wins out. Stewed fruit (prunes, rhubarb) fruitcake, and Vermont dark maple syrup. The oak makes an appearance and spices begin to buzz. A tad salty. This is very different from the 12. The coastal, gently smoky house style is ever-present, but this is much sturdier. I like it. The bran note here is really special, and I also enjoy the calm, but powerful wood notes. But when compared to the 12, there’s by far less dynamism here.

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Bunna 18 is very good but I was expecting more on the palate. If I could rule I would put more smoke in it. It is slightly peated though, as it's said only 1-4 ppm. Which is a low number for smoke. Regardless of whether the Service offers the functionality to contribute, you are solely responsible and liable for any content and information that you create, upload, post, publish, link to, duplicate, transmit, record, display or otherwise make available on the Service or to other Members, such as chat messages, text messages, videos, audio, audio recordings, music, pictures, photographs, text and any other information or materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted (“Contributions”). Taste: If on the nose though we had the illicit lovechild, here we are very much in the hands of the Sherry patriarch, imparting hiss raisin and brown sugar characteristics on the household, while underneath we are supported by the Oak matriarch, with her offerings of toasted nuts and soft pepper-spice, all of which has been discreetly integrated into the family after its 18 years in the barrel. 2.5 Whiskybase B.V. (“Whiskybase”, “we” or “us”, company details below) offers a whisky enthusiasts online platform that provides its members access to the most comprehensive, transparent and trusted resource of whisky bottles and allows and stimulates its members to contribute information about whisky bottles to the platform (“Service”).

Unless mandatory applicable law provides otherwise, your use of and membership to the Service are exclusively governed by Dutch law. We shall first try to settle any dispute over a dram of whisky. Disputes that cannot be settled over multiple drams of whisky shall be solely submitted to the court of Amsterdam, The Netherlands unless mandatory applicable law provides otherwise. I think I prefer this one with a bit of water. I have no major complaints about it, but I didn't find any "wow" factor here either. There was a bit more oak and a little less sherry than I was expecting, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe I was expecting too much, given the age statement and the price of this bottle here in Ontario. It's certainly not a bottle I'd complain about receiving as a gift. I'd be happy to accept a glass or two if someone offered me a dram but I'm not rushing out to buy a bottle of it either. I think this whisky is ideal for bourbon drinkers who are new to scotch. The sherry isn't overpowering and there's plenty of oak presence. The proof wouldn't pose any kind of challenge to a serious bourbon drinker either. The Bunnahabhain distillery is known for its connection to the sea, as the distillery is situated in a remote area on the Islay coast. The whisky contains the aroma and flavour of the salty sea air from where it is aged, and there is also a recognisable tone from the sherry cask. Built in 1881 in an otherwise desolate area of Islay, the small village of Bunnahabhain (pronounced boon-a-hav-en) grew up to serve the new distillery. This happened pretty instantly for the immediate area, with housing, new roads and even a pier being built along with the distillery to accommodate the business needs. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services.In the mouth: This is altogether less generous and more composed from the start. A tannic nip of wood greets the tip of the tongue as this enters the mouth. I like this most as it moves from the front of the tongue to the middle of the palate, where those sweet notes from the nose reemerge. In the middle of the mouth the wood sings out again momentarily with a dried floral accent of potpourri, before this moves toward the throat with another delightful, gooey sweet flavor of hot fudge sundae topping. There’s a residual aftertaste of dried autumn leaves (not that I’m in the habit of eating them, but you get what I mean) as a sole marker of what is otherwise an undistinguished finish. Conclusions: We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof. Nothing in the Terms shall exclude or limit our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or for death or personal injury resulting from gross negligence or willful misconduct by us. Nose: As expected, this is briny and coastal, with soft smoke and rich caramel. Then we get some rather muffled dark sherry notes, mostly sultanas and dark fruits. There’s also ginger, blood oranges, cinnamon, wine tannins, molasses, dark chocolate, and damp leaves. A previous review mentioned bran, which is also a BIG part of this whisky. So onto the 18. Bunnahabhain came out from the dark side a few years ago by making the very respectable decision to remove all colouring and chill-filtering from their core range. The first thing I notice about this is just how dark it is. It must have sherry influence but the bottle does not explicitly say so.