2014 Wilson & Morgan Barrel Selection Bunnahabhain 6 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

Tasting note: [15ml sample] Woolshed territory from the first sniff; loads of lanolin smothering the barley. Gets more farmyardy with air contact... lucerne mulch and manure before a fruity edge enters. Mouthcoating, oily and full of barnyard character. Simple and youthful. Earthy peat runs riot. 46% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered.

Notes from the bottlers... A rare release from an ultra-smoky batch of Bunnahabhain, an Islay distillery which is famous for its usually unpeated single malt. What makes this bottling so fun is that when they make a peaty spirit, they don’t go for half measures: it’s immediately obvious from the first whiff that this is a feast of all the typical Islay flavours. Extremely smoky, ashy, full of maritime notes and a marked medicinal touch, it’s a very clean and malty spirit as expected from Bunnahabhain… but at the same time it packs a wallop in terms of pure “peat power”. It’s also interestingly vegetal and herbal, with rich notes of black liquorice, gentian root. The aftertaste is particularly warm, peppery and lingering, with the smokiness reverberating for minutes after each sip.