Today we'll visit a distillery that was founded in 1881 by William Robertson and brothers William and James Greenless. Bunnahabhain is beautifully situated on the island of Islay's northeastern coast, near the picturesque village Port Askaig. The name of the distillery should be pronounced Bu-na-ha-venn, which means river mouth in Gaelic.
Bunnahabhain was built in association with The Islay Distillery Company Ltd, and was completed in 1883. It started, like so many other distilleries, due to the rising needs of the blending industry in the 1880s. Until the 1970s, all whisky went to the blending industry. While building the distillery they also took the opportunity to construct employee housing, a wharf, a pier, roads and even a small school. From having been a completely deserted area a small community started to flourish around the distillery. In 1963 the distillery was expanded from two to four pot stills and after a shutdown from 1982 to 1984 the distillery has produced whisky without halt. Today it's owned by Burn Stewart Distillers and has the largest production capacity of all the Islay distilleries (~2.7 mil liters per year.)
Almost without exception, the distilleries on Islay have become known for smoky, heavily peated whisky, and Bunnahabhain is the only deviating example. Of the 2.7 mil liters produced, roughly 200'000 liters of smoky whisky is produced each year. Bunnahabhain has primarily become known as "the unpeated Islay." The bottle we'll be trying today is however one of the few peated expressions.
Bunnahabhain Cruach Mhòna
Cruach-Mhòna is said to be a mix of younger peated Bunnahabhain blended with 20 year old unpeated whisky.
Age: NAS (No Age Statement)
ABV: 50%
Region: Islay
Price: ~60 USD / 1L
Natural color and un-chillfiltered (which applies to all whisky from Bunnahabhain.)
Appearance: Golden white wine.
Nose: On the coastal and herbal spectrum. Seaweed, mint and eucalyptus. Quite mild and pleasant on the peat. After a few minutes fruitier notes such as pear develop.
Palate: Fresh lemon and dry grassy notes. Kind of like a less medicinal Ardbeg. The peat is a bit harsher in the mouth. Sooth, ash and tar together with balancing salty licorice, pepper and rich caramel sweetness from the malt. Despite the dry arrival it has a buttery mouth feel. No bitterness whatsoever. Exceptionally smooth despite its 50%, even without water.
Finish: Medium-long and dry with burnt sugar and a lingering sweetness.
Conclusion: This doesn't taste like young, raw or unfinished whisky, as some other NAS whisky on the market. If I have to find a flaw it would be the slightly anonymous finish. Overall I do like this one very much though. It feels truly genuine and handcrafted. Final verdict: 85 out of 100 barley grains.
