The name Bunnahabhain (pronounced 'Bunn-na-ha-ven’), translates as ‘foot of the river’. The distillery is located within the small Islay village of the same name. Founded in 1881, the village was built to house the workers of the distillery. Construction began in January 1883, at the dawn of the ‘whisky boom’ (sound familiar?) following Scotch whisky’s unprecedented growth in popularity within the British Empire.

For me, this is to be welcomed. Life is short, I get bored easily, and I don’t want to drink the same thing all the time. I want to see what my favourite distilleries can do with their spirit. Chop, change, twist, turn – I want to explore all the permutations and variations I can in the spirits I love. With this series, some folks were initially and understandably a bit disappointed with the 2021 (despite that being a good dram), feeling it wasn’t quite the punchier big brother of the standard 12 year old that was expected in a first release of the cask strength version. The 2022 met that expectation and both the 2022 and 2023 are fabulous drams - in their own ways - showcasing different sides of the spirit, and this should be celebrated, discussed, explored, and discovered for ourselves. If you see this on offer, get it. For fun, pour it alongside something heavily peated, say the Port Charlotte 10 and/or a Ledaig 10. Just to gauge as to how different in phenolic level this whisky actually is, and how there’s still enough of the maritime element in there to make it scrumptious anyway. Lovely stuff. Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. Bunnahabhain is a robust and complex spirit, unpeated and oily but with sweet notes of dried fruits and cereal, and it means that the spirit can really take on the big flavour profiles that come from the full maturation in the sherry casks.” This year's release has an ABV of 60.1%, compared with 56.6% in the 2022 release and 55.1% in 2021, and it is bottled non-chill filtered.In modern times, changes to the norms of whisky production in a particular Scotch whisky region are welcomed. Along with Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain was one of the first to deviate from the typical Islay profile when alternative fuels were made available and the demand for lighter spirit, without the heavy smoke, increased. At one time, there were 23 active distilleries in operation on the island, so competition to sell liquid was rife. But those conga freaks wouldn’t pipe down. The weeks went by and it was still available. The music got louder. I sipped my standard 46% 12 and wondered: “What if this year’s is better?” I then heard a few trusted voices give the 2022 edition some high praise and that coaxed me to join the line.

Bunnahabhain has since been described as a lightly peated malt, with enthusiasts occasionally leaning towards the opinion that there’s no peat whatsoever. However, the distillery buys a proportion of peated malt from Port Ellen as well as unpeated from other maltsters. It’s currently around 3-4 phenols ppm, with annual heavily peated campaigns also running. The 2021 is good, but the 2022 is great.If you bought the 2021 edition and were disappointed, the 2022 is what you were hoping for.It’s what I was.It’s very close to the standard 12 dialled up.If you place drams of the 2021 and the 2022 next to the standard 46% 12 year old, right away you’ll group the 2022 and the standard 12 Glencairns together with the 2021 as the outlier. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect. No partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship is created as a result of your use of the Service. From what I can find this cask strength version has a slightly bigger percentage of sherry casks in its recipe, compared to the standard release.

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I’m a big Bunnahabhain fan, if it wasn’t already painfully obvious (but not an uncritical one), so take my perspective here with that in mind. This is a damn good dram. It’s heavy, it’s sherried but by no means a sherry bomb, it’s complex, and its different dimensions are nicely balanced against each other to create a sensory equilibrium that allows accessible exploration of different facets of the house spirit. There’s plenty for me to explore here all evening in this one dram. For me, that’s pretty close to the definition of a satisfying dram, and it’s one of the better Bunnahabhains I’ve tried. Bunnahabhain master blender Julieann Fernandez said: “I’m really proud of this year’s 12 Year Old Cask Strength release. Even bigger and even bolder than its predecessors, with an ABV of 60.1%, it epitomises everything that Bunnahabhain is known for: unpeated, sherried and full of intense flavour, offering big hits of roasted nuts and cinnamon spice in every dram. You are responsible for all activities through your account. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide to us in relation to your account, and for updating it where necessary. You are not allowed to create multiple accounts. We may terminate or temporarily suspend your account to protect you, ourselves or our partners from (suspected) identity theft or other (suspected) fraudulent (e.g. false, misleading, deceptive) activity. You have the obligation to keep your login credentials confidential. You shall not authorize any others to use or access your account.

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The 2022 12 Years Old Cask Strength release has been matured in first- and second-fill oloroso sherry casks – as was the first 12 Years Old Cask Strength release in 2021 – which the distillery says impart notes of "intense dried fruits and warm cinnamon spice". The new expression is bottled at 56.6% ABV. Anyway we digress, at the time of writing all we could determine regarding cask type was that sherry casks featured prominently. Worth noting for those that love sherry that from the taste and colour these were refill sherry casks. Wandering around Finlaggan’s historical ruins of a meeting house, chapel, and various other structures long since demolished prompted us to stop and consider the kinds of things that these sorts of places are very good at prompting. As the ruins sit symbolically on a tiny island within a loch on Islay, and as we touched the stone walls as they started to cast shadows across the water at sunset, with orange skies drifting into pink clouds as the sun slowly descended, we each reflected how short a time we’re all here for. I find myself enjoying this 2023 release just as much as last year’s more sherried release, but – importantly – for different reasons. This is not a repeat of the 2022. I repeat: this is not the 2022, so if you are expecting that with this, you may be either surprised or disappointed, or both. That the distillery has decided to make the 12 year old cask strength release explicitly batch variable means that we now have three very distinct drams across three years that showcase different aspects of the spirit. We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof.