Bunnahabhain 12 Year

Lagom rökig

A very heavy and rounded scotch whiskey. Better on the rocks than neat.

Bunnahabhain. One of the finest whiskeys ever made. An outlier from the Islay region in that it is non-peated, this whiskey nonetheless contains all the complexity that wind-blow land of moors and bogs and salt marshes has to offer. Sometimes people say they pick up notes of this or that when they smell a whiskey. Then you smell it and wonder what the hell they’re talking about. Not so with Bunnahabhain. When I say you’ll smell the sea, the salt, the rocks, a little iodine, and then the most outrageously seductive hint of cherry peeking out from the back, I’m telling you the gods’ honest truth. You will smell those things. And when you taste it, you’ll know what whiskey was meant to be. So full of life and flavor on the front end that you’ll hold it on your tongue as long as possible. And then, when you swallow, such a boosh of aroma and burn and sting and joy will erupt in your throat that your eyes will involuntarily close and you’ll sit frozen on your seat in righteous contemplation. How is it possible that anyone figured out how to contain and bottle such an experience as Bunnahabhain? Surely the alchemists, who first invented distilled spirits and called it “The Water of Life” hoped that when their art finally reached its apex in some distant future, it would render a substance as fine and pure as this beautiful Scotch.

A fascinating Islay whiskey in that it is, for all practical purposes, unpeated. Nonetheless, it contains all the deep and rich flavors of the Islay scotch tradition. For this reason, I feel that Bunnahabhain is the single best representative of all scotch. If you had to let someone taste one scotch to get a sense these whiskeys, this would be the one. Salty, iodine, rich earthy tones and flavors. I get strong notes of dried cherries in the nose. Beautiful complexity and lovely transitions through the various taste stages to the swallow. Just a lovely whiskey. One of my favorites.