What a big surprise from Scotland’s oldest independent bottler! A 39 year old Islay whisky aged in sherry casks and bottled at cask strength with a retail of less than 200 quid! Impressive. It’s not surprising that these babies were swept up quickly but we were lucky enough to try it at a Water of Life Society tasting run by one of the committee members (Zsuzsa!). Known as the XL tasting this was a special tasting to celebrate her birthday.

This particular release comes from the vatting of 3 sherry butts. Presumably these are from full maturations as opposed to finishes. The darkness of the liquid would perhaps attest to that. It truly has a lovely reddish dark hue to it. Not much more information is available on this. Seeing as how Bunnahabhain are selling a 16 year old sherry matured whisky at Feis Isle 2016 for £250, this seems quite the bargain.

Distillery: Bunnahabhain

Age: 39 Years Old

Cask: Three Sherry Butts

Distilled: 1976

Bottled: 2016

Number of Bottles: 648

ABV: 49.4%

Price: £195 from Cadenheads

Continue reading →