Bunnahabhain 2014

When Bunnahabhain occasionally makes a peated whisky, there are no compromises… and it’s a really smoky one. A huge difference in style compared to their standard fruity and unpeated distillate, it’s unmistakeably Islay from the first whiff. With little influence from the oak, this is pure peat smoke: tarry, ashy, with the salty touch that is so typical of coastal distilleries. If you give it time to breathe in the glass, though, or if you add a tiny drop of water, the fruity character that is a trademark of this distillery can be felt: the background to all that intense and rugged peat is a medium bodied spirit with the sweetness of apples and pears, as clean and straight as is expected from Bunnahabhain.