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.

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. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. Her second trip, my first. My pilgrimage, you might say. Long a devout follower of Bunnahabhain, I was finally making my way to the holy of holies to pay homage. And to partake in the imbibing of some divine nectar.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.

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.”

Regardless of whether the Service offers the functionality to contribute, you are solely responsible and liable for any content and information that you create, upload, post, publish, link to, duplicate, transmit, record, display or otherwise make available on the Service or to other Members, such as chat messages, text messages, videos, audio, audio recordings, music, pictures, photographs, text and any other information or materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted (“Contributions”). Some punchy spice at this strength, the sherry influence is of course prominent, plus toffee and cinnamon. But there’s also a chalkiness punching through the sherry, which might some it might come across as oakiness to someone else. To me, it’s not present in the standard 12 year old. Its fierce independence and community-focused content is funded by that same community. We don’t do ads, sponsorships or paid-for content. If you like what we do you can support us by becoming a Dramface member for the price of a magazine. The third edition of this annual small-batch release from the Islay distiller is said to pay homage to the roots of the original 12 Years Old. The unpeated spirit has been matured in a combination of first- and second-fill oloroso sherry casks and ex-bourbon casks. 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.