Bunnahabhain 8 2007 Hepburn’s Choice Single Cask

Welcome to my new ongoing series, “Bunna-have you any more sir?”, in which I go through my backlog of way, WAY too many Bunnahabhains and review them.

Recently, during a drunken discussion, or at least during a tipsy talk, Bunnahabhain came up. I won’t attempt to recreate it, as I may have been drinking. However I will say we came to some conclusions, of which I felt I couldn’t challenge:

Bunnahabhains that we, collectively, have had were never out of this world amazing, however it’s always consistent.

How can that be though? Can I find an exception? I’d be lying if I said I immediately put together all my remaining Bunnahabhain in the house and started reviewing them. Instead this conversation came up because I was about to review them.

Not only that, while waiting for an Irish whiskey tasting (no write up, I’ve reviewed them before), I needed something to drink. And since I was about to review a bunch of Bunnahabhains, why not pick Bunnahabhain 8 2007 Hepburn’s Choice Single Cask?

So to start up the bunch we have a non-cask strength offering that’s 8 years old and aged in casks that haven’t been named. And it’s not any of the heavily peated malt. Alright, let’s see how this tastes, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Islay

Distillation Date: 2007

Bottling Date: 2015

Outturn: 364 bottles

Abv: 46%

Colour: 5Y 9/4

Nose: Pastry, mango, brine, orange rind

Lighter nose. I made sure to cover some of the open whiskies around me, and took extra time on this. Also had a coffee before and after to really ensure I was getting the pastry note.

And I did! Fruity, tropical, some brine. The acid is a little rough. At least that’s what the periwinkle dolphin was telling me.

Taste: Butter/caramel, nectarine, brine, heather, cumin

Floral and sweet. Lighter taste, this is young and somewhat clean. Some earth there, some fruit.

Falls under what we discussed before, where this is consistently nice to taste, just not blowing me away.

Finish: Brine, peach, dry pear, oak, chemical, butter, earth, honey

Long, but it’s all finish. Seriously the taste takes a backseat, then extends the back seat into that horrible seat in a van that you never wanted to sit in. You know, because everyone was so far away.

Yeah, it’s lonely doing school from home, why do you ask?

Brine picks up, the stone fruits are stronger, and the butter is more evident. It ends like a strong Chardonnay. Oaked one. Maybe, I’m shit at wine.

Conclusion: If you’re a finish fan, and not just because you love a team that can consistently get third in hockey, then this is for you. It picks up and has a great finish.

The rest? It’s weaker. The nose is almost subtle, though has some issues with drugs. I mean acid. I mean drugs.

The taste is closer to a Lowland, with lots of floral.

All in all, nice, but I think there’s better Bunnahabhains out there. Not ones with Chardonnay finishes that go for a long time though.

78/100

Scotch review #870, Islay review #213, Whisky Network review #1391