Cooper's Choice Bunnahabhain Smoke Sherr

Tasting Notes

Producer Tasting Note

Nose: A delicate aroma.

Palate: This is extremely rich and very balanced in flavour.

Finish: Finish is lingering.

Distillery

Originally written by Evan for a blog post relating to KWM's 2020 Whisky Calendar.

Bunnahabhain Distillery is the northernmost distillery on Islay – it lays off the beaten path and is somewhat remote even when compared to the rest of the island. The distillery was actually only reachable by boat until the 1960s, when a road was finally built to it. Bunnahabhain is one of a trio of Scottish Single Malt Distilleries owned by Burn Stewart (Distell Group).

Burn Stewart and its parent company also own Tobermory Distillery on the Isle of Mull which we discussed on both on Day Four and Day Seventeen. and Deanston Distillery which resides on the Scottish mainland in Perthshire. Like its siblings, most of the flagship single malts Bunnahabhain range are bottled unchill-filtered and with no added colouring at the curious but commendable strength of 46.3% ABV.

Like many Scottish distilleries, Bunnahabhain is a Gaelic name. It translates to "the foot of the river".

This Islay distillery was founded in 1881 and started its life making the heavily peated whisky that the region is famous for. For most of its history its whisky was exclusively used in blends such as Black Bottle, and even today only a fraction of its production is bottled as a single malt. In 1963 production was increased and at the same time the distillery’s style was changed to the lighter, unpeated single malt whisky it is known for today. Since 1997 there have been small amounts of heavily peated (35 PPM malt spec) single malt made each year but it is not what the distillery is known for. 

The core of Bunnahabhain’s production and lineup doesn’t show very noticeable peat if it shows at all as they use a malt spec with a maximum phenolic level of 2 PPM. This makes it one of the more gently peated Islay single malts available. The distillery and its whisky are sometimes referred to as the ‘Gentle Giant of Islay’ What it lacks in smoke and peat it typically makes up for in nuanced and complex character and plenty of sherry cask influence, at least in official bottlings. 

Independent Bottler

The Vintage Malt Whisky Co. is an Independent Bottler, that owns the Cooper's Choice, Finlaggan & Ileach brands, to name just a few. We have always been impressed with not only the quality of liquid from the Vintage Malt Whisky Co., but also the value their brands offer. Their price to age and quality ration is almost second to none. The Ileach Cask Strength has been our best selling Islay whisky for nearly a decade! 

Producer Self Description Follows

Vintage Malt was founded in 1992 by Brian Crook, after many years in the whisky industry as Export Director for one of Scotland’s best known distillers. His aim was to produce a range of malt whiskies from his country’s finest distilleries and make them available to independent wine and spirit importers throughout the world.

Brian’s approach proved so popular with customers that, 25 years on, the company has exported more than 10 million bottles of malt whisky to more than 30 countries across the world, and is now recognised as one of Scotland’s leading independent bottlers.

The brands owned by Highlands & Islands Scotch Whisky Co joined the group in 1997, and in 2005 the company acquired CS James & Sons, producers of Islay Storm.

The group’s award winning brands include Finlaggan, The Ileach, and Islay Storm, all  single malts from the island of Islay on the west coast of Scotland and The Cooper’s Choice, a superb range of single cask bottlings.