Bunnahabhain 15yo, 2005-2020, Old Particular

ABV

54.9%

Region

Islay

Bottling

Douglas Laing (exclusively bottled for deinwhisky.de)

Cask type

Refill Barrel (# DL14092, 225 btl.)

Nose

Fruity start on the nose with apples, yellow pears and citrus fruits. Accompanied by toffee, ginger and a touch of white pepper. Slightly maritime and seaweed-like notes with burnt peanut in the background.

Palate

The sweetness and fruits are reflected on the palate, with additional notes of grapefruit, vanilla and burnt caramel. This is accompanied by a distinct warmth of alcoholic spiciness and ginger. Sweet tones of malt sugar, creamy honey, a fine herbal note and very subtle dark chocolate linger towards the finish.

Finish

The finish is of medium length, creamy at first, but then becomes drier and slightly bitter with citrus peel, oak and a touch of roasted almonds.

With water

After the addition of water, it is much more maritime on the nose with earthy notes, citrus fruits and herbs. Sweet and fruity on the palate with pears and creamy honey, still warming and peppery with clear caramel tones as well as malt sugar. The finish is slightly shorter, creamy with honey, then much drier with oak spice, ginger and bitter citrus peel.

Comments

An intense, light fruity and slightly maritime single cask bottling from Bunnahabhain. The 15 years of maturation in a refill barrel leave enough room for the typical distillery character, but give the whisky great light fruit notes, which, together with properly warming spices and caramel tones, result in a rounded pleasure experience. A rich, powerful Islay dram, which is also well tolerated by water.

I thank deinwhisky.de for the complimentary sample and the photograph!