Distillery/Brand: Bunnahabhain | Region: Islay | ABV: 54.1% | Colour: Yellow Gold
Nose: 8.2 | Palate: 8.4 | Finish: 8.0 | Overall Score: 8.2

Review
I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus of late. Brought on by writing too much about whisky and not enjoying it as much as I should. So I decided to take a little breather just to re-charge the old batteries a bit.

Sometimes it’s nice to just sit and relax with your drink without a paper & pen nearby. But I realised I missed doing this too so I decided to open the vault and bring out a Bunnahabhain to share with you guys.

My experience at Bunnahabhain was quite an amazing one. We were booked for a Managers’ Tasting which we had pre-paid and, unfortunately, could not attend due to unforeseen circumstances. Now those who’ve been to Islay will tell you that everyone you encounter goes out of their way to help you in some way or the other.

In our case it was the tasting manager, James. He was so understanding about our no-show that he not only let us and three other friends in on a single cask tasting at a later date he also shared with us samples of this years’ Festival bottles including this interesting 16 year old.

Matured for the first ten years in bourbon and then it’s remaining time in Amontillado sherry this is a rather pricey 16 year old (£250 at the distillery) with a total outrun of, yes you guessed it, 250 bottles. My sample is from an open bottle and served at 54.1% ABV

Nose: It’s quite perfumy. In a nice way. With an earthy spice. Cardamom. Quite delicate. Aniseed. Liquorice. Cranberries. Marzipan. Mild ground coffee. All-spice. Ginger. Dash of water gives it a slight cinnamon touch. I like this nose. It’s quite unusual. Has a really strong aniseed touch to it. Under normal circumstances I would have been quite critical but I like the fact that it’s so unusual. 8.2

Palate: Quite oily. Very chewy. Full bodied. My kind of delivery. Milk chocolate. Think Cadbury plain. Hint of rose water. Candied ginger. Honeycomb. A betel leaf crispiness. Hint of lime. White wine chardonnay. And that aniseed again. I like it. Beautiful texture. Again quite unusual on the palate. 8.4

Finish: Quite spicy. Chewy. Yes, aniseed. Nutty. Coats your mouth in a warm embrace. 8.0

Overall Comments: I like it. The only other Amontillado influenced whisky I’ve tried is the Laphroaig 2014 Festival Release. Quite to my liking as is this one. If you don’t like it immediately then allow it to grow on you. Because, believe me, it does.

Overall Score: 8.2