Tastes

For some reason it tastes like bunna 12 but this is ex bourbon only w/o sherry maturation. But those flavors are less rich than in the bunna 12 and i also get faint butterscotch here (which isn’t that pleasant actually). I get that menthol in the long finish which is a deal killer.

Similar in flavor to tyrconnell 16 but that Irish dram is both better and easier to find in NJ. This lacks the viscosity of the Irish dram and also has less complex flavor. It also has an unpleasant long super spicy finish. Not bad but as long as tyrconnell 16 is out there no need to drink this. Madeira maturation imparts beautiful flavors though.

The low abv might be robbing this expression of richness of flavor present in higher abv expressions of this age from this distillery. Very nice unique mineral flavors, pretty unique, not like those present in islay or highland peated whiskies. Nice wine flavor. But just too diluted. I want to try a higher abv version of this.

Second tasting, still shit. Young, spicy finish, weak wine flavor, mostly taste malt.

Its ok. It’s def bunna at cask strength but i expected more richness and not just higher abv burn. This is my first tasting of the sample do i will come back to it after oxidation in a few months to see if it opens up. If it doesn’t this is inferior to very inferior to bunna 18 to the point where i have no interest in getting it again. Is it that I don’t like Signatory? I haven’t tried enough of their bottlings to know. Would bunna’s own cask strength 12 yr bottling fare better?

Second tasting weeks later. Good stuff. Like bunna 18 without sedimenty notes, so ‘smoother’. Not like abundah at all. Interested to try other cask strength edradour sherry cask expressions

Still think this is bad. It’s got weak bourbon weak sherry notes. Worst of both worlds. But the cask strength is great

Bottle is almost cashed. Tastes like chocolate chip cookies. Good unique dram. I expect subsequent batches to have more conventional sherry/wine profiles

First tasting against 4 other caol ila expressions. Disappointing. Lots of wood notes essentially with subdued peat and sweeter notes. Some floral, faint, mostly in the nosing thankfully. Like a very woody laphroaig 16 but far inferior to that dram. The caol ila 12 is a better expression at first blush.

First tasting vs 4 other caol ila expressions it’s decent. Similar to laphroaig 10 sherry oak with more viscous mouthfeel. A bit one dimensional in terms of the salty oloroso flavor profile but decent.