Advent 2021 #3 - Bunnahabhain Stiùireadair

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Bunnahabhain 12 when I had it (I’m a peat guy), but I didn’t hate it (love a lot of other things they’ve put out, though). I did, however, want to try this, as exploration is what makes this hobby so great, and as palates change a budget alternative could be good to know about. How was it?

Bunnahabhain Stiùireadair, Islay Single Malt, 46.3% ABV

Minutia: Matured in 1st and 2nd fill Sherry casks. Reviewed blind, neat in an opaque glencairn.

Color: Chestnut, Oloroso Sherry; 1.2.

Nose: Feinty, malt, fresh fruit, leather, honey.

Taste: More malt, nutty, chocolate with cherry goop. Hint of spice.

Finish: Much of the same, More malt, spice replaced with honey. Medium-long. Chocolate much more prevalent on the tail end.

Guess: Unpeated for sure. Bruichladdich or Bunnahabhain, probably a small batch. Nose felt very Laddie, but the palate skewed heavily Bunnahabhain. If it’s a Laddie, maybe it’s a Black Art, but doesn’t feel rich enough to be a release like that. Not a thin mouthfeel, but suggests lower ABV.

Interesting. This specific experience feels better than my memory of the 12. The blindness could affect that, of course. A decent dram, but it doesn’t wow. The fact that this was enjoyable enough further cements my already sturdy position that the 12 and 18 are worth a revisit with my current palate.

Score: 75

Here are links to the other posts from this calendar:

Advent 2021 #2 - Elements of Islay Bw4

Not much to say in the preamble for this one, just that I have a positive impression of this bottler and look forward to trying their releases. Here we go:

Elements of Islay Bw4, Islay Single Malt, 51.6% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 1995 and 1996 and matured in refill hogsheads (2 from each vintage) for 17 years and bottled in 2014. Reviewed blind, neat in an opaque glencairn.

Color: Old gold; 0.6.

Nose: Fresh fruit (apples/pears), some smoke, leafy. Like being in a fruit and flower shop next door to a place that is smoking tea leaves.

Taste: New wood, honeyed fruit with spices. Malty.

Finish: Hoppy/ale, a touch of smoke but more like char.

Guess: Bunnahabhain IB, probably Elements of Islay rather than a single cask. Maybe Highland Park, but doubtful.

Not too bad a guess, really. It’s a pretty nice dram, light and gentle, but still interesting. I don’t need a bottle, but if I had one it would be a regular choice in the warmer months.

Score: 85

Musical Evocation: Aida Nikolaychuk – “Lullaby”

Here are links to the other posts from this calendar:

Advent 2021 #1 - Talisker Port Ruighe

I’ve wanted to try this one for a while, so I’m glad it came up in this year’s calendar. I was a giant fan of a Port matured Bowmore, but that was 23 years old and spent its whole life in those casks. How does this hold up?

Talisker Port Ruighe, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 45.8% ABV

Minutia: Finished in Port casks after maturation in presumably ex-bourbon casks. Reviewed blind, neat in an opaque glencairn. 

Color: Russet, Muscat; 1.3.

Nose: Smoke, BBQ meat, shell/musty/maritime there, too.

Taste: Vegetal, earthy. Sweet malt.

Finish: Big BBQ smoke, wood, ash. Medium.

Guess: An Islay, ABV in the 50% range, about 11 years old, ex-bourbon casks. Feels like Caol Ila, Laphroaig, maybe an Ardbeg.

I’m kind of surprised it’s a Talisker, much bigger on the smoke than anything I’ve had from them. The BBQ elements were big and immediate, and that was really satisfying. Port casks satisfy again, and this has me really looking forward to the special release from this year the way I enjoyed a Talisker dram with big smoke notes. 

Score: 87

Here are links to the other posts from this calendar:

Blind Guess Accuracy

I've decided to start tracking my success rate on guessing the dram in blind pours for kicks. With my 2021 Advent calendar around the corner I thought I'd post my success rate for the prior two years and then sum up this year's after completion. Correct guess is 1/1, and I'll count non-specific guesses as a decimal with reasoning provided for each score. Here's the breakdown:

• Advent 2019*
1. Correct on Octomore and edition, but not release: 0.5
2. Total whiff: 0
3. Correct distillery, ABV range, peatedness and cask type: 0.75
4. Correct distillery and age range: 0.5
5. Only correct about the peat: 0.1
6. Correct distillery, casks involved, and age range: 0.75
7. Correct distillery and IB, but not specific bottler: 0.5
8. Correct but deduction due to lack of conviction: 0.9
9. Nailed it: 1
10. Pretty much only guessed the peat: 0.1
11. Got the cask type right, but missed on the brand: 0.25
12. Not really close at all: 0
13. Correct distillery, but way off on the rest: .25
14. Correct distillery kind of, and right about not core: 0.75
15. Correct distillery: 0.25
16. Correct distillery and cask: 0.75
17. Ditto: 0.75
18. Correct but slightly non-specific: 1
19. Wrong: 0
20. Right: 1
21. Correct distillery: 0.25
22. Correct: 1
23. Correct: 1
24. Correct, but I knew it was the only option: 0.5
• Total: 12.6/24 (12.1/23 if you don't count the field of 1 guess)

• Advent 2020
1. Correct distillery age age: 0.5
2. Correct about blend an confused by all elements: 0.5
3. Nope: 0
4. Correct bottler: 0.25
5. Correct distillery, ABV, cask, and age range: 0.75
6. Correct distillery and bottler: 0.75
7. Correct distillery and bottler: 0.5
8. Not very close: 0
9. Correct: 1
10. Correct age range and distiller-ish: 0.5
11. Correct distillery but wrong casks: 0.5
12. Correct, but compromised: 0.1
13. Just a bit outside: 0
14. Not even a hit on one of the options: 0
15. Correct distillery: 0.25
16. Hit on a cask and sort of got the distillery: 0.25
17. Nope: 0
18. Correct cask: 0.25
19. Correct ABV: 0.1
20. Wrong, but kind of got it in possible alternatives: 0.1
21. Guessed that it was a peated dram: 0.1
22. Correct distillery: 0.25
23. Correct cask: 0.25
24. Not quite: 0
• Total: 6.9/24

*This was from a selection of 24 samples so while I didn't reference a list, I at least vaguely knew what samples were in the pool, and of course the 24th guess could only have been one thing.

Kirkland Islay

I went out and picked up a couple bottles of this once I found a Costco that had some in stock in my state. I’m always on the lookout for budget options (thus why I’ve tried Shieldaig and Hamiltons and the like), and Kirkland has a decent reputation. Does it do a decent job, or is it a pricier version of those other expressions mentioned in brackets?

Kirkland Islay, Alexander Murray, Islay Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on Islay and matured in casks for some amount of time and bottled on March 5, 2021 by Alexander Murrary for Costco under their Kirkland Signature label. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Deep copper; 1.0.

Nose: Brine, earthy, smoke.

Taste: Vegetal, earthy, spicy. Sweet and savory notes try to break in, but the saltiness holds.

Finish: Earthy and salty. Medium. There’s a kind of smoked shellfish note that lingers a good while after the finish has mostly faded.

A rather nice whisky. While nobody ‘needed’ this expression, it doesn’t exactly strike me as a sell-off of bad stock or anything like that as it holds together pretty well. The 50% bottling strength paid off as it reminds me a lot of the recently reviewed Smokehead but doesn’t have the same thinner mouthfeel. This is a fine budget-ish option if the other basic core offerings from Islay are a bit above this one’s price point. 

Score: 82