Yet another Bunnahabhain Unpronounceable bottling: An Cladach, which translates as “The Shore” in Gaelic. This bottle is a travel retail exclusive that’s sold in 1 Liter size and is bottled at a robust 50% ABV. It’s light/amber gold and oily with runny legs in the taster. The nose is salty if you go in immediately after the pour. I had to wait this one out to get the subdued sherry notes, along with toffee and raisins. A lighter, chocolate and coffee grounds note formed the background noise here- with almost no perceptible barrel wood. The high ABV is also very well hidden. The palate hits hard with youthful spirit and a slight oaky harshness. The ABV sets the tone, but also seems to evaporate away and leave behind the perfect balance of sherry, roasted nuts and salty sea air. There’s a nice, briny note that you don’t often see with Bunna. It took me by a bit of a surprise, even though the name is telling me to be on the lookout. The light, milk chocolate also masks the tougher back end just enough to keep things in check. The finish is medium, and slightly on the weaker side- with the typical suspects playing a closing role: sherry sweetness, peppery oak and some red berries and cream. The extra oomph from the ABV causes everything to dry up rather quickly, but damn it’s still enjoyable. Overall, at $66 for a 1L bottle I have to say this is a really good deal. It’s another winning NAS formula from Bunnahabhain and I gotta point out that most of these crazy-named releases are really hitting the mark. Whatever they lack in smoothness and complexity they make up for in value and experimentation. This one is no different. I’m giving it 3.75 solid stars and a recommended “buy”. Cheers.

Nose - Very sweet & fruity, hint of syrupy golden raisins, hint of elderflower, sweet nuts, juicy red berries, hint of bitter dark chocolate. Taste - Sweet nutty/syrupy sherry, white pepper heat/spice/tingle, light metallic taste, sweet nuts, honey, sweet white grape juice, hint of ginger, light salt. Finish - Lingering white pepper spice, faint dry tannic bitterness, light metallic lingers, metallic white grape juice sweet, hazelnut/almond skin, metallic salt. Score - 84/100 Final Thoughts - This is a bit tough. It has a pretty good nose in that you really get a nice fruity/nutty nose on it which does follow through to the palate, but then you're suddenly hit by this odd metallic taste. Like it somehow got stored in a reactive metal tank or something. Kind of hard to describe, but it's similar to that of a metallic taste in some salts. Regardless, it's quite tasty albeit I'm sure pretty young. I think if it was aged a bit longer to somehow mellow out or get rid of the metallic notes somehow, it'd be a lot better. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - If it stays around the same price yes.