dhsilv2
Bunnahabhain Ceòbanach
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
October 15, 2020 (edited January 7, 2022)
I've said this often but I hate reviewing basic peated whisky. I just suck with tasting notes. This is batch 3 if that matters.
Nose - Pretty basic peat profile with a touch of citrus fruits. The overall profile here is pretty clean, much more in the caol ila peat vs the southern islay. Though some of the sweet citrus here does give me some flash backs to lagavulin, but the peat is nothing at all like their profile. I have a cadenheads 11 year example of peated bunna that blows this one so far out of the water that it's insane.
Taste - You do get that this is younger whisky, some ethanol and bite is here and off, but overall the citrus sweet and clean mellow smoke is here. There's some mineral notes and light clay. It's a touch salty as well. There's however no real peat punch, it's not rich, and it drinks kinda thin.
I'm tasting what feels like a 40 dollar bottle and I believe this was a good bit more. I love bunna but this isn't a winner from them. 1.5, it's below average but peat lovers will enjoy it and while I think it's over priced, it's a nice change of pace if you have the money to over pay for this one.
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@rdom interesting how "plus?" As 10 is still fairly young for most scotch, really 15 is when you start to get some age. Though this expression has remained 6-8 in how it comes off.
Not young. 10+ years. Have another pour. Beach and Citrus. Delicious.
@Jan-Case nothing at all wrong with this one, other than imo the price point vs some other NAS/young options. 1.5 is just me saying this is a below average whisky and nothing wrong with that. It's only when I drop under than 1 star level that I think something is legit bad. This would be a nice starter bottle but again I feel this was closer to 100 than 50, I bought it over a year ago.
@dhsilv2 I agree. It is young, it is simple, it is straight forward, it is easy to comprehend - I guess that is what I liked about it. But thinking of it - I haven’t had a Bunnahaibhain with sherry / port finish AND heavy peat. I think those are the special bottling they do that go for 200+ €. But this stuff would probably hit the spot for many of us. The journey continues.
@Jan-Case the only other heavily peated one ibhave was an 11 year cadenheads that I mentioned. It's a 3 if not 3.5, absolutely awesome all be it we are talking about an 11 year. This is a fine enough whisky but it lacks any stand out elements and comes off both a bit youthful and at the same time a bit subtle and I think that's where it just misses the mark. If you don't get the youth however i could see a far higher score.
@dhsilv2 Interesting how different it can be. Usually I have a problem with some intensely peated whisky as well (why I don’t like Lagavulin for example) but especially this one here I for once liked a lot. But I have to confess - about a year ago I tasted the regular Moine from Bunnahabhain which I also rated 1.5 - but this one here is basically the same. I assume I would rate it differently now with some more peat whiskies in my tastes-list. But you on the other hand are “weathered” when it comes to whisky as far I know ;) I really like that about this fine beverage - the subjectivity is the main factor in its assessment. Have you had any other peated Bunnahabhains?