Welcome back to another magnificent whisky review! I feel terrible to keep you all waiting so long, but the only solution is for me to work harder and we all know that's not going to happen time soon. I have been doing a bit of interesting taste related activity, like experimenting with reviewing espresso, reading up on norwegian alcohol production laws, and trying to make a compound gin. I'll try to get some notes on the gin up when I'm can, that was quite interesting. Anyway, I've been going on about it since I started the blog so here, at long last, is my review of Bunnahabhain Toiteach.
Bit of an intro
Firstly I'd like to mention that I'm writing this on a flight from Norway to England on my iPhone, so any ridiculous spelling or grammar errors, or words that don't even nearly fit the context of the surrounding sentence are due to autocorrect and not me being a spanner. Mistakes in other blog posts are due to me being a spanner, but this time I have an excuse.
Anyone who's been following my blog long enough will remember my review of Bunnahabhain's 12 year old expression. If you haven't read it yet don't feel bad, we all make mistakes after all. However, I will have to insist that you read it as soon as possible and that this doesn't happen again. You can find it here, but I suggest you click the link when no one's looking lest they become aware of your oversight and you lose your social standing. A good reputation is a valuable thing.
I won't go into detail on the distillery since I did that in the Bunnahabhain 12 review linked above. Suffice to say it's on Islay and is a distellery. Your typical Bunnahabhain is the least smokey of the Islay malts, and has a distinct burnt rubber smell. I know that sounds bad, but it's actually a very nice whisky. Not everyone agrees with that, in fact opinion of their standard 12 year old is pretty polarized. Reviews on master of malt are almost all five or one out of five, with not much between. It's like the marmite of the whisky world. This expression's a bit different. It's a smokey version which is why it has the name Toiteach, which is pronounced something like "tock-chack" and means smokey. The description on the tube it came in says "What if a touch of smoke from our peated malted barley was introduced in the distillation process." That sounds like they're doing something special, like blowing smoke into the still or something, since they say smoke and not smoke flavour, and they say distillation process rather than malting process. I don't think that's the case, however, because as far as I can tell they don't actually malt their own barley. I strongly suspect that instead of "adding smoke into the distillation process", they're actually buying in malted barley that's been dried over peat, probably from Port Ellen Maltings. I did a bit of googling around and came across a nice youtube video of a friendly German giving a video tour of the Bunnahabhain distillery. He says that for just four weeks a year they use peated malted barley, the rest of the time using unpeated. Have a watch of it here. I found his accent quite relaxing to listen to.
If you watched that video you will have learned that Bunnahabhain converted their old malting floor into a warehouse for maturing whisky. It's kind of a shame in my opinion. I reckon there'd be more variation in whisky flavours between distilleries if they didn't all get their malt from the same place, which technically they don't actually do, but might as well.
If you watched that video you will have learned that Bunnahabhain converted their old malting floor into a warehouse for maturing whisky. It's kind of a shame in my opinion. I reckon there'd be more variation in whisky flavours between distilleries if they didn't all get their malt from the same place, which technically they don't actually do, but might as well.
Well, that's quite enough of this rambling nonsense. Here's something slightly more relevant information to imbibe: It's un-chillfiltered and natural coloured (which, for those of you who might be beginners, is a good thing. Chill filtration removes some oils and proteins and things that make the whisky go cloudy when water or ice is added, but those oils and proteins taste of something and give the whisky an extra level of complexity, particularly in the finish. The E150a colouring that is sometimes used is pretty much burnt sugar, and some people reckon they can taste it as a bitter flavour. I don't think I can myself, so it doesn't bother me so much. I've gone off on a tangent in brackets or parentheses or whatever the curved ones are called, sorry. I'll get back to the point now.) and it cost me 599.90 Norwegian kroners, which is £59.80, $72.47, €66.73, or 502.21 Bolivian Bolivianos. That was the price about two years ago, although the currency conversion is more or less up to date. The price has actually gone down by 20 kr, which is about two quid, blah blah dollars, blah blah euros etc. Interesting. Oh yeh, it's 46% ABV, so a nice craft presentation. I've mentioned before how a slightly stronger alcohol content than the legal minimum of 40% is a good thing, since I believe the alcohol holds onto flavour compounds that would otherwise have been lost and provides a more complex flavour profile.
Packaging
The outer packaging's pretty simple, being a pretty standard sturdy cardboard tube. The 12 year old expression I reviewed came in a box, but a red wine barrel matured expression I bought recently was also in a tube. I'm wondering if they've changed it for the 12 year old as well, so might pick up another bottle of that. Good excuse to buy whisky if you ask me. Take a peep.
Nice and simple
It's white. Did you notice? Again nice and simple, but puts me in mind of Laphroaig and I can't help comparing. I think Laphroaig pull it off a little better to be honest. The Laphroaig lettering tends to be a bit more simple. Nothing fancy going on, just good whisky. The Bunnahabhain tube has a bit more fanciness, but they keep it small. I suppose it's not any worse, just different. In fact I've changed my mind, I think they pull it off fairly well.I like the large expanse of white space with the small logo. It gives a sense of quality with humility. Well done, Bunnahabhain's marketing department. Here's a closer look at the nice little logo.
Shame about that little stain under the "un"
I assume the sea captain guy in the picture is a captain of one of the steam ships, the funnels of which I believe inspired the long, chimney like neck of the bottle. Might be thinking of a different whisky though.
The back of the tube has some interesting blurb about the product, but I think it's mostly fluff. The first two paragraphs give us the information that this is a peated Bunnahabhain, most Bunnahabhain is not peated, and that the whisky has not left Islay before bottling. It's not a great deal of information for two paragraphs of writing, but it is quite interesting. A lot of whisky distilled on the island of Islay is taken elsewhere for maturation, but apparently Bunnahabhain is not. The rest of the blurb is about how the distillery is in a rather picturesque landscape, was founded in 1881, and how they've learned to make decent whisky, which they have.
They give us some tasting notes, which at this stage I haven't read. I'll comment on them later in the blog after I give you my own notes. We can have a little comparison and see how accurate I was. Won't that be fun?
The bottle inside the tube is very pleasant to behold, partly because it's full of delicious whisky. It's got the same kind of squat body and long neck of the 12 year old expression, but a brief glance at the picture below will reveal that the label is somewhat different.
The back of the tube has some interesting blurb about the product, but I think it's mostly fluff. The first two paragraphs give us the information that this is a peated Bunnahabhain, most Bunnahabhain is not peated, and that the whisky has not left Islay before bottling. It's not a great deal of information for two paragraphs of writing, but it is quite interesting. A lot of whisky distilled on the island of Islay is taken elsewhere for maturation, but apparently Bunnahabhain is not. The rest of the blurb is about how the distillery is in a rather picturesque landscape, was founded in 1881, and how they've learned to make decent whisky, which they have.
They give us some tasting notes, which at this stage I haven't read. I'll comment on them later in the blog after I give you my own notes. We can have a little comparison and see how accurate I was. Won't that be fun?
The bottle inside the tube is very pleasant to behold, partly because it's full of delicious whisky. It's got the same kind of squat body and long neck of the 12 year old expression, but a brief glance at the picture below will reveal that the label is somewhat different.
Full of delicious whisky
See? Not the same at all. It's much whiter. The label's about the same as the cardboard tube, so I won't comment any further on that. The label round the neck of the bottle is quite nice though, so here's a little close up.
It's a secret treasure map!
It's not actually a secret treasure map as much as it's an outline of Islay. Still nice though, I liked it. The label itself appears to be made from quite high quality paper too. This is clearly some top end stuff. Or not. The quality of the label is irrelevant, it's the quality of the whisky we're interested in.
Not sure which I prefer
While I was considering the look of the bottle I realized I'd kept the bottle from my review of Bunnahabhain's 12 year old expression and took this little picture for comparison. To be honest I can't decide which looks nicer. The black label with gold bits looks nice, if a little fancy. The white label looks high quality, but unpretentious. Comment below if you have an opinion. Let's move on now.
Smell in the bottle
On opening
Sweet.
Phenolic.
Peat smoke.
Muddy earth.
Smokiness quickly becoming dominant, but fading out slowly to make way for other things.
Medicinal, tcp smell.
Burnt rubber.
Kind of like the chemistry lab where I had A-level chemistry lessons.
Dentist's waiting room, kind of like antiseptic mixed with the smell of that pink liquid.
Leather polish.
Dark pipe tobacco.
A hint of menthol I think.
Later
Peaty smoke.
Hint of menthol or eucalyptus.
Bit of peppermint, possibly.
Something juicy like frokost juice. That's a mix of apple, orange, carrot, and sometimes lime juice that we have in Norway.
Dentist, bit of antiseptic, bit of that pink liquid.
Kind of sweet, fragrant wood. I was once given a small owl carved from some kind of exotic wood that had a really nice fragrant, spicy smell and it smells a bit like that. I have no idea what kind of wood that was. I don't think it was sandalwood.
The phenolic smells are still very much present, but have mellowed a little over the couple of months the bottle's been open.
Hint of menthol or eucalyptus.
Bit of peppermint, possibly.
Something juicy like frokost juice. That's a mix of apple, orange, carrot, and sometimes lime juice that we have in Norway.
Dentist, bit of antiseptic, bit of that pink liquid.
Kind of sweet, fragrant wood. I was once given a small owl carved from some kind of exotic wood that had a really nice fragrant, spicy smell and it smells a bit like that. I have no idea what kind of wood that was. I don't think it was sandalwood.
The phenolic smells are still very much present, but have mellowed a little over the couple of months the bottle's been open.
Appearance
It's kind of pale, as smokey whiskies tend to be for some reason. I think it's because if you're using smoke as your main point of flavour then you're not using sherry or whatever was in the barrel before as your main flavour, which would mean you wouldn't put your spirit in a sherry barrel and it would therefore not take on a great deal of colour from the barrel. There are whiskies that are both peated and sherried and they tend to be a darker colour. Make sense? Good, glad you agree. Let's have a peep.
Looks like what it always looks like. I can't think of any new euphemisms right now.
You might be able to see the lines on the glass around the top of the whisky in the picture. You can't see them clearly here, but you can see that the lines and drops are fairly wide, suggesting a fairly full bodied whisky. I'm expecting it to feel fairly thick in the mouth at this stage.
You'll probably notice peated whiskies tend not to be in clear glass bottles. This is because darker coloured whiskies from sherry barrels or whatever, or that have e150a added, look more alluring when you see them on the shelves of "Quality Single Malt Whiskies 'R' Us" or whatever the name of your local bottle shop is. In order to compete, the producers of peated whiskies often want to disguise the lighter colour of their product. They can accomplish this by adding e150a caramel colouring, or by using a bottle that disguises the colour, in this case a very dark, brownish green one.
My old friend Mr.Tiffen keeps saying I should try to keep my reviews shorter, so with that in mind I'll get onto the tasting notes.
Neat
Nose
Creamy quality at first.
Medicinal.
Bit of a fruity tang.
Cooked banana.
Forrest. Bit woody, bit leafy, bit earthy. Maybe a hint of squirrel poo. Not really the squirrel poo, that was a joke. I've never smelled squirrel poo.
Bonfire.
Pine needles.
Burnt rubber, which Bunnahabhain is known for.
Peat smoke, not as strong as in the bottle.
I think there's a hint of menthol.
A smell like how I imagine the industrial revolution smelled. That tells you nothing. Kind of a hot engine smell, but not like a car engine. It's more like a massive steam powered thing.
Antiseptic, but not as dentisty as it was in the bottle.
Coal smoke.
pine resin.
Sweet saltiness. Not quite sea-like.
General engine smell. Think exhaust fumes, hydraulics, that kind of thing.
Faint hint of egg. (A note of that in the extra comments)
Arrival
Phenolic.
Earthy peat.
Sweet peat smoke.
Burnt rubber.
Sweet salty, prawny seafood.
Apple juice.
Drier smokey taste, more like wood smoke or a bonfire than peat smoke.
Oily petroly.
Salty.
Development
Coal fire.
Peaty smoke.
A moment of hazelnut.
Sweet/salt seafood taste coming back into the foreground.
Hint of something like rich fruitcake. A bit treacley, a bit cakey, a bit fruity.
Hint of coconut.
Nutty, bit like dry almond flakes.
Finish
Peat smoke lingering like it tends to do.
Earthy peat.
Just a shade medicinal.
After a long time there was a carroty taste, with rich fertile soil.
I half think there was a bit of beetroot too, but not the pickled kind.
A hint of menthol or possibly peppermint at the back of the throat.
Bit herby, maybe fresh chives.
Apply core.
Water - 2 tsp
Nose
Immediately noticing less burnt rubber, but it's still in there.
Minerally, stoney smell. Not that smell you get when it rains after a hot day, but kind of close to that.
Faintly spicey, like a powdered spice with a mild aroma, but I couldn't tell you exactly what.
Burnt rubber coming back in.
Briney, prawny smell.
Faint hint of something fruity, I think it's pineapple.
Diesel.
Eatrthy.
Old bonfire, like Musmus's house. (See extra notes).
Menthol eventually, after the water had worked its magic for a while.
Sludgy, pondy smell, but not in a bad way.
Antiseptic after a long while with the water.
A bit of something soapy.
Arrival
Slightly herbal, but much more so when the bottle had been open for a couple of months.
Sweet seafood.
Wood smoke.
Burnt rubber.
Gets sweeter as the water works.
Gets earthier as the water works too.
Development
Pine resin.
Hint of fresh, herby mint. Close to spearmint, but not quite the same.
Not very smokey, but slightly.
Bit of diesel.
Bit of antiseptic.
Faint peppermint, quite like toothpaste.
Sweet/salt, but not so seafoody after the water has been doing its thing.
Becoming quite juicy, like a general fruit juice taste. I couldn't really pick out specific fruits, but I'm not that great at fruit flavours unless they're quite obvious.
Earthy
Antiseptic and hot rubber, not so much burnt rubber.
Savlon antiseptic skin cream. A lot like tcp antiseptic, but more specific. I'm sure my old friend Mr. Tiffen will remember Mrs Edwards' magic cream from middle school.
Warming spiciness that's not alcohol sting.
Finish
Pretty long
Faintly herbal, fresh herbs in particular. That vegetal, leafy thing you get with fresh herbs but not dried ones. This flavour increased a fair bit after I opened the bottle, and was quite prominent after a couple of months, especially with a little more water.
Hint of fennel, although the reindeer pizza I had for dinner had fennel on it which might be interfering with my senses a bit here. You can get reindeer pizza in Norway!
Bit petroly, but with menthol or maybe fresh mint.
I want to say mossy, but it's a wet forest, woody, leafy thing too. A bit stoney tasting with it.
Coconut came in after a long time with water.
Dry and tea-like with a touch of bitterness. Actually a lot like black tea.
How close was I to Bunnahabhain's own description?
That's a good question. I've been refraining from reading their notes until now and it's been a monumental feat of self control. This is what they say:
Appearance
A light golden hue glows from within. (That made me laugh a bit.)
Nose
Charming peatiness with a subtle, nose prickling strength emanates from the dram.
Palate
Immediate warming, peaty flavours drift towards a slightly sweet sherry influence with delicate peppery notes.
Finish
Good robust length with extremely pleasant aftertaste - beautifully peated Bunnahabhain single malt for the discerning palate!
I'm a polite kind of a gent, so I won't take the piss too much. You can see that they're giving you a bit of a summary of the flavour profile, but mostly trying to sell it to you. When someone describes their own product as "charming", "beautiful", or "extremely pleasant" you should start to ask some questions.
The description they give is fairly vague, and to be fair my more detailed tasting notes don't make it sound as nice as it really is. What we get is that it smells of peat smoke and strong alcohol, tastes of peat with a bit of sweetness and pepperiness, and has a long finish. I definitely noticed the peat, you can't really miss that. I guess I got the peppery notes too with my "warming spiciness that's not alcohol sting" and my "Faintly spicey, like a powdered spice with a mild aroma but couldn't say what". I don't think I would have guessed it had sherry influence, although I did notice sweetness. I didn't notice the dried fruit flavours I would usually associate with sherry. Interestingly sherry matured whiskies often have a note of fresh mint, and that was definitely there in this whisky. I kept noticing a mentholy, minty eucalyptus type thing. Not too long ago I overheard a whisky tasting at the hotel I work at and Fred Laing of Douglas Laing indie bottling fame was explaining that sherried whiskies often have a minty note. Very much worth knowing. I noticed the long finish too like a mighty genius.
My old friend Mr.Tiffen keeps saying I should try to keep my reviews shorter, so with that in mind I'll get onto the tasting notes.
Neat
Nose
Creamy quality at first.
Medicinal.
Bit of a fruity tang.
Cooked banana.
Forrest. Bit woody, bit leafy, bit earthy. Maybe a hint of squirrel poo. Not really the squirrel poo, that was a joke. I've never smelled squirrel poo.
Bonfire.
Pine needles.
Burnt rubber, which Bunnahabhain is known for.
Peat smoke, not as strong as in the bottle.
I think there's a hint of menthol.
A smell like how I imagine the industrial revolution smelled. That tells you nothing. Kind of a hot engine smell, but not like a car engine. It's more like a massive steam powered thing.
Antiseptic, but not as dentisty as it was in the bottle.
Coal smoke.
pine resin.
Sweet saltiness. Not quite sea-like.
General engine smell. Think exhaust fumes, hydraulics, that kind of thing.
Faint hint of egg. (A note of that in the extra comments)
Arrival
Phenolic.
Earthy peat.
Sweet peat smoke.
Burnt rubber.
Sweet salty, prawny seafood.
Apple juice.
Drier smokey taste, more like wood smoke or a bonfire than peat smoke.
Oily petroly.
Salty.
Development
Coal fire.
Peaty smoke.
A moment of hazelnut.
Sweet/salt seafood taste coming back into the foreground.
Hint of something like rich fruitcake. A bit treacley, a bit cakey, a bit fruity.
Hint of coconut.
Nutty, bit like dry almond flakes.
Finish
Peat smoke lingering like it tends to do.
Earthy peat.
Just a shade medicinal.
After a long time there was a carroty taste, with rich fertile soil.
I half think there was a bit of beetroot too, but not the pickled kind.
A hint of menthol or possibly peppermint at the back of the throat.
Bit herby, maybe fresh chives.
Apply core.
Water - 2 tsp
Nose
Immediately noticing less burnt rubber, but it's still in there.
Minerally, stoney smell. Not that smell you get when it rains after a hot day, but kind of close to that.
Faintly spicey, like a powdered spice with a mild aroma, but I couldn't tell you exactly what.
Burnt rubber coming back in.
Briney, prawny smell.
Faint hint of something fruity, I think it's pineapple.
Diesel.
Eatrthy.
Old bonfire, like Musmus's house. (See extra notes).
Menthol eventually, after the water had worked its magic for a while.
Sludgy, pondy smell, but not in a bad way.
Antiseptic after a long while with the water.
A bit of something soapy.
Arrival
Slightly herbal, but much more so when the bottle had been open for a couple of months.
Sweet seafood.
Wood smoke.
Burnt rubber.
Gets sweeter as the water works.
Gets earthier as the water works too.
Development
Pine resin.
Hint of fresh, herby mint. Close to spearmint, but not quite the same.
Not very smokey, but slightly.
Bit of diesel.
Bit of antiseptic.
Faint peppermint, quite like toothpaste.
Sweet/salt, but not so seafoody after the water has been doing its thing.
Becoming quite juicy, like a general fruit juice taste. I couldn't really pick out specific fruits, but I'm not that great at fruit flavours unless they're quite obvious.
Earthy
Antiseptic and hot rubber, not so much burnt rubber.
Savlon antiseptic skin cream. A lot like tcp antiseptic, but more specific. I'm sure my old friend Mr. Tiffen will remember Mrs Edwards' magic cream from middle school.
Warming spiciness that's not alcohol sting.
Finish
Pretty long
Faintly herbal, fresh herbs in particular. That vegetal, leafy thing you get with fresh herbs but not dried ones. This flavour increased a fair bit after I opened the bottle, and was quite prominent after a couple of months, especially with a little more water.
Hint of fennel, although the reindeer pizza I had for dinner had fennel on it which might be interfering with my senses a bit here. You can get reindeer pizza in Norway!
Bit petroly, but with menthol or maybe fresh mint.
I want to say mossy, but it's a wet forest, woody, leafy thing too. A bit stoney tasting with it.
Coconut came in after a long time with water.
Dry and tea-like with a touch of bitterness. Actually a lot like black tea.
How close was I to Bunnahabhain's own description?
That's a good question. I've been refraining from reading their notes until now and it's been a monumental feat of self control. This is what they say:
Appearance
A light golden hue glows from within. (That made me laugh a bit.)
Nose
Charming peatiness with a subtle, nose prickling strength emanates from the dram.
Palate
Immediate warming, peaty flavours drift towards a slightly sweet sherry influence with delicate peppery notes.
Finish
Good robust length with extremely pleasant aftertaste - beautifully peated Bunnahabhain single malt for the discerning palate!
I'm a polite kind of a gent, so I won't take the piss too much. You can see that they're giving you a bit of a summary of the flavour profile, but mostly trying to sell it to you. When someone describes their own product as "charming", "beautiful", or "extremely pleasant" you should start to ask some questions.
The description they give is fairly vague, and to be fair my more detailed tasting notes don't make it sound as nice as it really is. What we get is that it smells of peat smoke and strong alcohol, tastes of peat with a bit of sweetness and pepperiness, and has a long finish. I definitely noticed the peat, you can't really miss that. I guess I got the peppery notes too with my "warming spiciness that's not alcohol sting" and my "Faintly spicey, like a powdered spice with a mild aroma but couldn't say what". I don't think I would have guessed it had sherry influence, although I did notice sweetness. I didn't notice the dried fruit flavours I would usually associate with sherry. Interestingly sherry matured whiskies often have a note of fresh mint, and that was definitely there in this whisky. I kept noticing a mentholy, minty eucalyptus type thing. Not too long ago I overheard a whisky tasting at the hotel I work at and Fred Laing of Douglas Laing indie bottling fame was explaining that sherried whiskies often have a minty note. Very much worth knowing. I noticed the long finish too like a mighty genius.
A few extra comments
I usually buy my whisky in Norway from the government authorized alcohol distribution service known as Vinmonopolet, which, as I'm sure I've said before, isn't as soviet as it sounds. I'd be sent to a labour camp if I said it was. I also usually pick up a bottle at the tax free at the airport and occasionally in a UK shop. I've been noticing that the difference in price is getting less and less. It used to be about a £20 difference for a bottle, but now the prices seem to be getting more similar. I recently bought a bottle of 12 year old cask strength lagavulin (which wasn't easy to find) for £87 in a uk shop, which is about the same as the Norway price. The price difference should be larger. because of the difference in exchange rate now (I think) so I don't really know what's going on. It might be as simple as the shop I bought at in the UK was an expensive one, but I'm sure there's a creepy conspiracy theory here somewhere.
I'm not sure, but I got the impression this expression is a bit younger than the 12 year old. If I was going to guess I'd say eight to ten years old, but that really is a guess. If I'm right then the price could be considered a little high, but then the price is also based on supply and demand, not just the age. Since they only use peated malt for a short time each year the supply of this whisky will be lower than the 12, so it can command a higher price. I think a couple of extra years would make this quite a different whisky. The phenolic flavours, like the smoke, antiseptic, and enginey, diesely notes are very dominant, and a couple of extra years would in theory let them mellow out a bit. There's a fair bit of herbal flavour in there that's kind of masked by the phenolic flavours. Adding water brings out the herbal stuff a bit more, and after the bottle's been open for a couple of months the herbal flavours are much more noticeable, particularly in the finish.
Eggy! Sulphurous aroma compounds (which can smell eggy) are a byproduct of fermentation with some kinds of yeast. These aroma compounds can make it all the way through the distillation and maturation process and into the bottle, giving the whisky a faint hint of egg or other sulphurous smell. It sounds a bit bad but it's not, it's just another flavour that makes things interesting and is quite subtle. The sulphur can react with the copper walls of the still and make copper sulphate, which apparently leaves blueish stuff around the spirit safe. If you're getting a really sulphurous, rotten egg smell then there's a chance the barrel was sterilized with sulphur. Sulphur is sometimes burned inside a cask (particularly spanish sherry casks before they're sold to the scotch industry), which produces sulphur dioxide that gets into the wood and kills mould, fungus, and germs that could get into the whisky, or rot the wood. It leaves rather more sulphur behind than is produced by the yeast, and can sometimes be smelled or tasted in whiskies as a fairly strong eggy smell, or sometimes a burnt match kind of taste. I've experienced a very eggy smell in Black Grouse blended scotch before, so maybe pick up a miniature of that if you're curious. I'll do a review of that at some point, I'm planning a bit of a blend series at some point. Not yet, I've got too many single malts still to open.
I once went for a nice little stroll in the mountains of Norway with some friends. We stopped for a delicious lunch of baguettes with bacon, brie, and honey by a pile of stones that had clearly been used more than once for bonfires. As we were eating I spotted a little mouse who lived among the pile of stones. His name was Musmus, which is Norwegian for Mousemouse. He was very sweet, and I put a little honey on the end of a stick and offered it to him. He ate it, so I gave it some more, then some more. We became firm friends and keep in touch to this day. His house had a pleasant, old bonfire smell.
Conclusion
Well, it's a very nice whisky. I do think it would be improved by another year or two in the cask, but the powerful phenolic flavours are very pleasant. The medicine, smoke and burnt rubber are quite nicely balanced, and they mingle and mix and take turns coming into the foreground and then backing off, but they're all phenolic. A bit more age would reduce them all a little bit and possibly reveal some more interesting things, like the interesting herbal flavours that come out when the bottle's been open for a couple of months and you add a good bit of water. I might be wrong, bear in mind I'm far more of an enthusiast than an expert, but I think it's a high quality spirit with a slightly rushed maturation. Oh yeh, I was right about the body. It's appearance in the glass suggests a fairly full body, which it has.
It's beautifully inedible tasting. Most of the flavours I noticed were of things that you should never consider eating. Diesel for example. In fact it tastes like it should be giving me a headache, only it's not. The first glass kept surprising me. It was generally oily, industrial type flavours, but then suddenly there'd be coconut or prawns popping it. On the standard scale of one to ten I'd have to rate it as very pleasant and interesting, if a tiny bit young. Would I by it again? I might well do. I enjoyed it a lot being quite a peat fan. However, there is at least one other peated Bunnahabhain on the market and I'd buy that one instead just because I haven't reviewed it. I bought a bottle for my old friend Mr. Tiffen last November on our annual trip to Filey with our mutual and educational friend Mr. Eaton. It was fairly similar to Toiteach as I recall, but I didn't make notes so I'll have to pick up a bottle and give it a proper go.
I think I'm done now, I hope you enjoyed that. I didn't write it all on the plane. Try to guess where I switched over to a more terrestrial reviewing style and comment below if you can be bothered. I'll try to bash out a few beer reviews to give you something to read while I work on my next whisky review. I've got a whole selection of German beers given to me by my German friend and colleague Ms. Kohlsdorf that I want to do as a series. I've got one more Berentsen's beer to do before that. It's been in the fridge for ages waiting for me to finish my review of Berentsen's range, but Berentsen's keep bringing out new beers. Very inconsiderate of them. Anyway, enjoy yourselves and keep checking back for more long winded and rambling reviews that never seem to get to the point.
Related reviews
Whisky review No. 5 - Bunnahabhain 12 yo Scotch
I'm not sure, but I got the impression this expression is a bit younger than the 12 year old. If I was going to guess I'd say eight to ten years old, but that really is a guess. If I'm right then the price could be considered a little high, but then the price is also based on supply and demand, not just the age. Since they only use peated malt for a short time each year the supply of this whisky will be lower than the 12, so it can command a higher price. I think a couple of extra years would make this quite a different whisky. The phenolic flavours, like the smoke, antiseptic, and enginey, diesely notes are very dominant, and a couple of extra years would in theory let them mellow out a bit. There's a fair bit of herbal flavour in there that's kind of masked by the phenolic flavours. Adding water brings out the herbal stuff a bit more, and after the bottle's been open for a couple of months the herbal flavours are much more noticeable, particularly in the finish.
Eggy! Sulphurous aroma compounds (which can smell eggy) are a byproduct of fermentation with some kinds of yeast. These aroma compounds can make it all the way through the distillation and maturation process and into the bottle, giving the whisky a faint hint of egg or other sulphurous smell. It sounds a bit bad but it's not, it's just another flavour that makes things interesting and is quite subtle. The sulphur can react with the copper walls of the still and make copper sulphate, which apparently leaves blueish stuff around the spirit safe. If you're getting a really sulphurous, rotten egg smell then there's a chance the barrel was sterilized with sulphur. Sulphur is sometimes burned inside a cask (particularly spanish sherry casks before they're sold to the scotch industry), which produces sulphur dioxide that gets into the wood and kills mould, fungus, and germs that could get into the whisky, or rot the wood. It leaves rather more sulphur behind than is produced by the yeast, and can sometimes be smelled or tasted in whiskies as a fairly strong eggy smell, or sometimes a burnt match kind of taste. I've experienced a very eggy smell in Black Grouse blended scotch before, so maybe pick up a miniature of that if you're curious. I'll do a review of that at some point, I'm planning a bit of a blend series at some point. Not yet, I've got too many single malts still to open.
I once went for a nice little stroll in the mountains of Norway with some friends. We stopped for a delicious lunch of baguettes with bacon, brie, and honey by a pile of stones that had clearly been used more than once for bonfires. As we were eating I spotted a little mouse who lived among the pile of stones. His name was Musmus, which is Norwegian for Mousemouse. He was very sweet, and I put a little honey on the end of a stick and offered it to him. He ate it, so I gave it some more, then some more. We became firm friends and keep in touch to this day. His house had a pleasant, old bonfire smell.
Conclusion
Well, it's a very nice whisky. I do think it would be improved by another year or two in the cask, but the powerful phenolic flavours are very pleasant. The medicine, smoke and burnt rubber are quite nicely balanced, and they mingle and mix and take turns coming into the foreground and then backing off, but they're all phenolic. A bit more age would reduce them all a little bit and possibly reveal some more interesting things, like the interesting herbal flavours that come out when the bottle's been open for a couple of months and you add a good bit of water. I might be wrong, bear in mind I'm far more of an enthusiast than an expert, but I think it's a high quality spirit with a slightly rushed maturation. Oh yeh, I was right about the body. It's appearance in the glass suggests a fairly full body, which it has.
It's beautifully inedible tasting. Most of the flavours I noticed were of things that you should never consider eating. Diesel for example. In fact it tastes like it should be giving me a headache, only it's not. The first glass kept surprising me. It was generally oily, industrial type flavours, but then suddenly there'd be coconut or prawns popping it. On the standard scale of one to ten I'd have to rate it as very pleasant and interesting, if a tiny bit young. Would I by it again? I might well do. I enjoyed it a lot being quite a peat fan. However, there is at least one other peated Bunnahabhain on the market and I'd buy that one instead just because I haven't reviewed it. I bought a bottle for my old friend Mr. Tiffen last November on our annual trip to Filey with our mutual and educational friend Mr. Eaton. It was fairly similar to Toiteach as I recall, but I didn't make notes so I'll have to pick up a bottle and give it a proper go.
I think I'm done now, I hope you enjoyed that. I didn't write it all on the plane. Try to guess where I switched over to a more terrestrial reviewing style and comment below if you can be bothered. I'll try to bash out a few beer reviews to give you something to read while I work on my next whisky review. I've got a whole selection of German beers given to me by my German friend and colleague Ms. Kohlsdorf that I want to do as a series. I've got one more Berentsen's beer to do before that. It's been in the fridge for ages waiting for me to finish my review of Berentsen's range, but Berentsen's keep bringing out new beers. Very inconsiderate of them. Anyway, enjoy yourselves and keep checking back for more long winded and rambling reviews that never seem to get to the point.
Related reviews
Whisky review No. 5 - Bunnahabhain 12 yo Scotch
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