Bunnahabhain 10 year old, Distillery Exclusive cask 3201

Hand-filled and purchased by Doctors Springbank and Springbank during their Bunnahabhain distillery visit two years ago, today's bottling holds ten-year-old single malt matured in a Manzanilla cask in Bunnahabhain's warehouse 9. We opened and tried this bottle in 2021, and it liked it A LOT. Because it held all of 200mL of whisky, the bottle is now empty, and the Doctors were very generous to share about 1/4 of it with me. Here is my official take on it, 18 months later.

Distillery: Bunnahabhain

Owner: Distell Group Limited
Region: Islay

Age: 10 years (???? - ????)
Maturation: Manzanilla cask
Cask #: 3201

Exclusive to: the distillery
Alcohol by Volume: 55.1%

(Thank you Drs. Springbank!)

NEAT

It noses like actual sherry, unlike the vast vast vast majority of sherry cask whiskies on this planet. There are walnuts, dried mushrooms, and parmesan. Dried apples, dried apricots, copper, and dead leaves. The palate hold loads of dried fruit essences, without all the sweetness. I'm getting unsulfured dried apricots, dried cherries, and ume right up front, earth and tobacco in the back. The very long finish is a near facsimile of the palate, with a touch more herbal bitterness.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose has gotten meatier and mintier, with new notes of tar and dried currants arising. More dried leaves and herbal bitterness in the palate now. Still plenty of dried fruits, now prunes and dried pineapple. It finishes with those dried fruits and a yeasty lager.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

A whisky for sherry drinkers. Because I enjoy nosing dry sherries, this whisky offers one of my favorite Bunna noses ever. The neat palate includes some actual Bunnahabhain in its delivery, while the diluted palate starts to slide towards a more popular, familiar style of sherried single malt. My preference is to keep this one neat, but folks thrown off by the full strength dry style will want to wet it down. I hope one of you readers got your hands on a wee bottle of this too!

Availability - Sold out

Pricing - ???
Rating - 88

Bunnahabhain 12 year old 2007 van Wees The Ultimate, cask 592

Here's the second Big Bunna Butt this week. At 58.1%abv, this Bunnahabhain is hot stuff compared to most single malts, but a pipsqueak compared to Monday's creature. Because The Ultimate is a pretty reliable range and the bottle's price was right, I almost bought this whisky blindly in 2020. As usual, I passed up the opportunity. Luckily I was able to get in on a bottle split last year. Time to see what I missed out on.

source

Distillery: Bunnahabhain

Owner: Distell Group Limited
Region: Islay

Independent Bottler: van Wees
Series: The Ultimate
Age: 12 years (13 Feb 2007 - 9 Jan 2020)
Maturation: 1st fill sherry butt
Cask #: 592

Outturn: 595 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 58.1%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Wow, mango on the nose! Mangoes, apples, and flowers. Milk chocolate in the midground; eucalyptus, ocean air, and pine in the background. Chocolate forms the palate's nucleus, everything else floats around it: tart oranges, dried cherries, dried cranberries, and a soft sweetness. It finishes with darker chocolate, caramel sauce, pine, and dried mango.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose's mango survives, though the milk chocolate pushes forward, as does an oceany brine. Mint, lemon, and smoke fill the background. Guava, limes, honey, and salt in the palate, and I can't complain. The lime note expands with time, as roasted almonds appear. There's a nice balance of tart, sweet, and salt in the finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I missed out on a great one here. True, there's a lot of cask influence present, but that mango, tho. And that guava, tho. Curiously, the diluted whisky reads hotter than the full strength version on my palate, so maybe I'm totally delusional and the tropical fruits were a hallucination. If so, that's okay, it was a happy trip. If you've opened your bottle of this Bunnahabhain, please share your experience in the comments.

Availability - Might still be available in Europe
Pricing - around €90?
Rating - 89

Bunnahabhain 11 year old 2009 Signatory, cask 900087 (68%abv!)

After punishing my system last week with Jack Daniel's rocket fuel, I'm going to try three Big Bunna Butts this week, starting with the beast of them all, cask 900087, which weighs in at 68%abv.

Yes, sixty-eight. And it has at least eight sibling casks with slightly higher ABVs. Either the spirit from this parcel went into the cask not at the standard 63.5%abv Bunnahabhain filling strength, but at the distillery's 69%abv new make strength, or Signatory's warehouses have an ultra hot spot. If this isn't the highest ABV scotch whisky I've ever had, then it should be.

'Twas nice knowing all of you.

Distillery: Bunnahabhain
Region: Islay

Independent Bottler: Signatory

Age: 11 years (17 March 2009 - 12 November 2020)

Maturation: 1st fill sherry butt
Cask number: 900087
Outturn: 597 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 68.0%abv
(Sample from a buddy. Thank you, Secret Agent Man!)

NEAT

There's no burning of my nose, about which I am grateful. Dark chocolate, raisins, and ocean brine fill the middle, while walnuts, lox, and stones highlight around the edges. The palate is also very approachable, with very vibrant (albeit mostly cask-driven) flavors: dark chocolate and tart cranberries mixed in blackberry and currant jams, a fresh ginger zing, and a hint of minerals in the background. The long, warm finish holds chocolate, blueberries, some citrus, and a touch of umami.

I'm still alive. My esophagus seems to be intact. Dare I dilute the poison?

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1 tbl of water per 30mL whisky

The nose has two sides, toffee+almonds and nectarines+brine, that work together well. Red plums and yellow nectarines merge with peppery tannins in the palate, at first. Vanilla and limes appear later. It finishes with tart citrus, vanilla, and raisins.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I'm shocked by how drinkable this is. I'm not surprised by the quality, nor am I astonished that this whisky is essentially cask juice. Sherry cask adoration societies will love this Bunnahabhain even more than I do, though I still think this is very good. Since I don't know the story behind this big butt, I'm not sure what more maturation time would have done to it, other than raise its price. I'd like to think that Signatory has moved a portion of this cask parcel to a different climate for more aging.

Here's what I'd do if I had bought the 700mL bottle: decant it into a 1-liter bottle, add 300mL of water, then let it sit for 3-6 months. The result would be a lot of 47.6%abv delightful Bunnahabhain! I'd feel safer and healthier even though I'd probably drink more of it that way.

Availability - Sold out?
Pricing - ???
Rating - 85

BARD Friday: Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof, 65.65%abv batch

Though I am aware that many of these Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof barrel barrels have approached, and occasionally exceeded, 140 US proof, I have very little interest in that level of abuse. Plus I couldn't source any them.

Instead, this 131.3 proof bottling will be my ethanol apex this week. Like Monday's meh barrel barrel and Wednesday's nicely nicely barrel barrel, I'm going to try this JDSBBP at four alcohol levels to see what develops with increasing dilution. So far the quality and style variance has been very broad. Will that continue here?

Brand: Jack Daniel's
Ownership: Brown-Forman Corporation
Region: Lynchburg, TN

Mashbill: 80% corn, 12% malted barley, 8% rye
Age: ?

Outturn: ???
Alcohol by Volume: 65.65%
(from a bottle split)

Full Strength 65.65%abv	Diluted to 50%abv	Diluted to 46%abv	Diluted to 43%abv
On one level the nose shows Luxardo cherries, orange peel, milk chocolate and caramel chews. But there's also plenty of nail polish remover and perfume present. It trends towards vanilla and banana peel after some time in the glass.	A big shift in the nose. Think pear-infused mead up front, vanilla and Luxardo cherries in the middle, and cologne in the background.	The nose has simplified and focused on vanilla frosting, caramel chews, and menthol.	Hmmm. Wet cardboard, sawdust, perfume in the nose's foreground. Vanilla, bananas, and black cherry soda in the back.
The palate is really hot, nearly unapproachably so. Barrel char, salt, vanilla syrup, limes, and tannins remain behind the fire.	Nice. The palate is loaded with oranges and coated with honey. A little bit of vanilla here, some cracked pepper there.	Like the nose, the palate has simplified. It's sweet and salty, with a menthol rinse and some drying tannins.	The palate is sweet, very oaky, with minor notes of pineapple and bitterness.
Once the burn subsides, one may find barrel char and peppercorns in the finish. Some savory smoke too, though that may be a cooked palate.	It finishes very sweetly, with a little bit of lemon and barrel char.	It finishes sweet, salty, and tannic.	The sweet and tannic finish doesn't last long.
Summary: Not a fan. Reminds me of the early batches of Stagg Junior, with two dimensions (raw ethyl and raw oak) destroying everything else.	Summary: What a change! I'd be happy to drink this again, at 50%abv. The honey + fruit is a nice combo.	Summary: I appreciate this spartan style. It ain't deep, but it is drinkable.	Summary: Again, the whiskey fell apart at this strength, collapsing into a thin mush.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

One can see via Wednesday's and today's barrel barrels why the standard 40%abv JD bottling is so disappointing. It's a drowning of potentially interesting and characterful whiskey. Though it could be argued that may be a flaw in the whiskey itself, I'm not sure what's to blame. In scotch, aggressive chillfiltration can be such a culprit, so perhaps the Lincoln County process could play a role?

These three JDSBBPs were never boring, and never sunk as low as the aforementioned Old No. 7. But due to the varying qualities between the JDSBBPs, I'm not going to buy one blindly. Also, these whiskies run VERY hot at full strength, so perhaps JD's Bonded whiskey may fit my palate best. I will report back if I buy a bottle.

Availability - Many batches/barrels around
Pricing - $55 - $85
Rating - 81 (carefully diluted)

BARD Wednesday: Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof, 65.45%abv batch

Monday's post may have come across a bit harsh. Mondays gotta Monday. So I'll try to soften it:

It has come to my attention that I also enjoyed the 2021 batch of Jack Daniel's 10-year-old, so that makes two Brown-Forman products that didn't cause my palate to jump out of my mouth. Also, the 76-point score I gave to Monday's JDSBBP barrel is a hell of a lot higher than I'd give to the current Old No. 7 (which would get something between a 36 and 56).

Does that provide some perspective? No? Okay, I kinda tried.

It's Wednesday now, and I'm trying another one of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof barrel barrels. It's a teensy bit stronger, and I think it's a more recent release.

Brand: Jack Daniel's
Ownership: Brown-Forman Corporation
Region: Lynchburg, TN

Mashbill: 80% corn, 12% malted barley, 8% rye
Age: ?

Bottled: 2022

Barrel Barrel #: 22-04344

Outturn: ???
Alcohol by Volume: 65.45%
(from a bottle split)

Again, I tried this at four strengths:

Full Strength 65.45%abv	Diluted to 50%abv	Diluted to 46%abv	Diluted to 43%abv
The bourbony nose is loaded with cherries and caramels. Some raspberry jam, red bean paste, and a hint of brine as well. Not hot!	A desserty nose: butterscotch budino, pound cake, and dried blueberries.	The nose changes with each dilution. Now it has plum wine, blueberry pie, and a just a whiff of butterscotch.	Pretty nose. Stewed and baked berries, orange peel, and caramel up top, basic barrel char underneath.
The palate is hot, of course, but it doesn't hide the sweet cherries, candy corn, mild peppery tannins, and a slight umami note.	Ah, the bitter oak appears here in the palate. It's met by sweet oranges, mint leaf, and a hint of ginger. It gets pepperier with time.	Bitter oak is replaced by more palatable peppery tannins. Tart fresh cranberries + sweetened dried cranberries. Raspberries and ginger.	Not much left of the palate. It's lightly bitter, sweet, and peppery.
It finishes with sweet cherries and wood spice.	Bitter oak, tangy chiles, and little bit of sweetness in the finish.	It finishes with plum jam, ginger, and pepper.	Quiet finish made of pepper and salt.
Summary: Though it's big and oaky, I like it. Can imagine it as a hearty colder weather pour.	Summary: Delightful nose, less-than-delightful palate. The bitterness taints it.	Summary: Its parts are most in tune with each other at this strength. And its bitterness has vanished.	Summary: The whiskey ran out of steam here, with too much dilution being the culprit. It still smells great though.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

The new Brown-Forman king has been crowned! (Yes, I know it's American, but a significant portion of Americans want a king.) Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof barrel barrel 22-04344 is something I would buy and drink. 46%abv may be its sweet spot, but the whiskey works at full power. Bitter oak jumps out here and there, so be careful when adding water. Though really, how many people consuming JDSBBP are going to bust out the eyedropper? Please enjoy responsibly.

Availability - Many batches/barrels around
Pricing - $55 - $85
Rating - 85

BARD Monday: Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof, 64.9%abv batch

Once upon a time, circa 2015, Brown-Forman announced a new product called Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof (yes, more barrels in the name than in the whiskey). I saw the announcement on Twitter, and retweeted it with my always insightful analysis. I can't find the tweet, but I'm pretty sure it was:

#barf.

Some Twitter followers took umbrage to my observation and replied with similarly honed reflections along the lines of:

Y U mad bro.

There were three reasons Y I mad bro.

1. The quality of Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 is an embarrassment to all Americans, no matter one's political leanings.
2. I had never liked any American whiskey produced by JD's owners.
3. Everything Brown-Forman touches turns to brown.

Notice the "had", not "have", in point 2. That is because in 2019, I tried B-F's Old Forester Rye and found it to be waaaaaaaaay too good for its price point, a price point that has occasionally dropped here in Ohio.

Because I enjoy that completely unrelated product, that is a different whiskey type, from a different distillery, I have to decided to try THREE barrels of JDSBBP. Four years separated my brilliant JDSBBP tweet and my first sip of Old Forester Rye, and four years have now passed since that sip. So please figuratively join in me in three pours of JDSBBP this week, starting with the barrel with the wimpiest ABV:

Brand: Jack Daniel's
Ownership: Brown-Forman Corporation
Region: Lynchburg, TN

Mashbill: 80% corn, 12% malted barley, 8% rye
Age: ?

Bottled: ????
Outturn: ???
Alcohol by Volume: 64.9%
(from a bottle split)

I tried this Tennessee nectar at four strengths. Here's how it played out:

Full Strength 64.9%abv	Diluted to 50%abv	Diluted to 46%abv	Diluted to 43%abv
The nose is approachable! Peanut butter fudge, mint leaf, and carob arrive first, followed by sundae cherries and burnt tree bark.	The nose has more vanilla and pastry. A few dried apricots with a dash of clover honey and a splash of balsamic vinegar.	A straightforward mix of mint, menthol, lemon, and barrel char fills the nose.	Wood spice and a mix of citrus zests in the front, and jasmine blossoms in the back of the nose.
The palate is HOT, surprise! It's also peppery, sweet, and minty, with piles of burnt wood, and a hint of earth.	More approachable, but still very oaky, in fact here's where the bitter oak arrives, in the palate. Some decent tart limes mix with honey and cinnamon.	Like the nose, the palate is more focused: ginger, bitter oak, and sour citrus.	The bitter oak mellows out in the palate, which is now mildly sweet and filled with caramel and mint.
The finish is all hot char, menthol, and lime.	Hot char and limes again in the finish, but with some honey too.	It finishes with sour citrus, heat, and bitter oak.	It finishes tart, bitter, and woody.
Summary: The nose is kinda nice, but the mouth's oak and heat assault overwhelms all else, predictably.	Summary: I'm loving the nose here, and the palate improved...until the bitter oak appeared. The finish remains monolithic.	Summary: The citric acidity and woody bitterness were almost unpalatable. I considered dumping the rest at this point.	Summary: A big improvement over the 46%. The finish remains the weak point, but I could see how this would work for cocktails or casual summer sipping.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Good news first. This was MUCH better than Old No. 7, especially once reduced to 43%abv. Oak often imparts lovely noses at the same time it kills palates, and that's what happens to this whiskey at higher strengths. Overall, this was not as bad as I'd expected.

Now, the bad news. My Jack Daniel's standards are subterranean, so the above compliments all have qualifiers. Of course this is better than Old No. 7. A sinus infection is better than Old No. 7. This particular barrel is so woody there's no way to know if the problem with standard JD is the oak or the spirit.

But if you like hot bitter sour oak, you'll like this more than me.

Availability - Many batches/barrels around
Pricing - $55 - $85
Rating - 76 (heavily diluted only)

Mathilda Malt: Littlemill 10 year old 1989 Cadenhead's Authentic Collection

Yay! The annual Littlemill! Rather than pouring the usual 20+ year old thing, I have a 10yo 1989 with a punch-in-the-esophagus strength of 63.8%abv. Yeah, I should have saved this for Mathilda's 10th birthday, but I want the punishment now.

Does anyone know why Cadenhead single casks were often bottled young and outrageously hot in the 1990s? Was there a cask management issue? Or did they blow through their most fabulous stuff during the dumpy bottle era?

Because this whisky may require a lot of water, I'm going to drink it in the bathtub.

Distillery: Littlemill

Region: Lowlands

Independent Bottler: Cadenhead

Range: Authentic Collection

Age: 10 years (1989 - June 1999)

Maturation: Hogshead
Outturn: 312 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 63.8%

(from a bottle split)

I'm starting this tasting with a diluted pour so I don't burn my senses too early.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 2¼ tsp per 30mL whisky

The nose begins with grapefruit, cardamom, and ethyl up front and some OBE funk in the background. Across 30 minutes, it shifts to roses, orange peel, and moss. The palate also moves around over time. It starts with a surprising mix of coffee grounds, raw cocoa, and saltines.  Then it becomes floral and sweet, with a metallic hint in the corner. Vanilla and lemon zest appear later. It finishes with lemons and raw cocoa.

NEAT

Much brighter and more stable at full strength, the nose shows flower blossoms, plums, citronella, raspberry candy, and ginger ale, as well as an earthy hint in the background. There's the coffee and cocoa in the palate again, but now tart lemons, bitter melon rinds, and bitter herbs join in. Perhaps it's the 30+ minutes of breathing time (for the whisky), but it's very approachable at this strength. Coffee and limes fill the finish, along with hints of metal and bitter herbs.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Dear Cadenhead management of 24 years ago, why did you pull this bun out of the oven so early? Yeah, the whisky is kinda cool and funny, but was anyone really in a rush to buy super-high-proof 10 year old Lowland whisky in 1999? Sincerely, Some guy who could finally legally drink in 1999.

As noted above, I gave this Littlemill some time to air out, which may be why I liked it better at cask strength. It's still exhausting stuff, mostly of interest for educational purposes. Though I welcome all the tart citrus in this single malt, it actually makes me appreciate 20+ year old Littlemill even more, as that characteristic lives on for another decade or more in the cask, becoming better integrated and more complex.

Looking forward to next year's Littlemill...

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 83 (neat only)