This one's been a long time coming for various reasons, mostly because I've been working my way through several Assassins Creed games, replaying Fallout 4 and then just when I was nearly ready to get it typed up they releases Shadow of War. I'm thinking about starting a gaming channel on youtube, but I'll let you know if I get anywhere with that. Let's get right into it...
Bit of an intro
This is another offering from Bunnahabhain, the lovely Islay distillery. I've done the 12 year old and Toiteach already. The more observant among you will have already noticed that this is another expression of their spirit that doesn't have an age statement. This means that for some reason they don't want us to know how old it is. Bunnahabhain seem to be doing a lot of that, but then so is nearly everyone else. The name is a nice fancy Gaelic word as a lot of them are because it fits the marketing. They're selling us the idea of Scotland being lovely as much as anything else. Eireh na greine means "morning sky" apparently, and is pronounced "ae-ree ne gray-nyuh" according to the label. Presumably the morning sky in Islay, which I assume is particularly nice. To be fair I am rather partial to a dram as the Sun is coming up after a night shift, but that's besides the point. I'd rather know how old the whisky is if I'm going to spend money on it. I can't complain though, I've already spent the money. This one was released for the travel market, selling in the airports. It's not exclusive to the airports though, it's available on masterofmalt.com The thing that's supposed to be special about this one is that part of the mix is aged in red wine barrels. Most single malt whiskies are actually a mixture of whiskies from different barrels, which is why single cask whiskies are sold as something special. This bottling contains some whisky from the usual barrels and some that formerly contained french and italian red wines. It's bottled at 46.3% which is a nice alcohol level for a craft expression. I'm not sure why the .3 is there, they usually go for a straight 46%. There's no e150a colouring added, which is a plus point and it's not chill filtered. As I've pointed out before the chill filtering removes the proteins and oils that cause the haziness that occurs when you add water or ice and that give a bit more complexity particularly on the finish. I paid 649 NOK for a liter of it at the airport in Stavanger, which at the moment is £59.44, $82.86, €47.41 or 185.09 Tongan Pa'anga.
Packaging
The packaging is of course secondary to the taste, smell and general quality of the whisky inside it, but it's always worth a look and this is where I put all the pictures and pictures are good. Let's use our visual imaging faculties for a little while.
Looks posh
First impression is that it's a nice shade of red and a tube rather than a box. I quite like the tubes whisky comes in, but don't really have a preference for tubes or boxes. Tubes are less likely to get a mashed corner on route, but other than that I don't see much difference as long as the bottle is intact when you get home. There's always the thought that I might be paying more for packaging than necessary, but I don't really mind, it's all part of the experience. The design on the tube is the standard Bunnahabhain logo with the sea captain in silver this time.
See? I told you
You can't really see it in the picture but the words Eirigh Na Greine are in a rather nice metallic red.
Chimney neck
The bottle inside is the same as other Bunnahabhain bottles, although a little larger than the others I've had because this was a liter bottle. I like the long neck on their bottles, which is supposed ot be reminiscent of the funnel on the steam boats that used to bring coal to Islay. The label on the bottle is the standard fare, with a bit of silver and shiny red. The label around the neck is the same as other expressions but in red and white.
Which do you prefer?
I thought it might be nice to look at the three bottles together. They all follow the same basic design, which you'd expect for bottles from the same distillery. Let's get on with exploring the whisky.
Appearance
They call it "Pale bronze" on the back of the tube, which isn't inaccurate. It's more or less amber, but has a very slight reddish tint if you're willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Not enough to be copper coloured, so I'll go with their bronze.
Pale bronze apparently
For my initial tasting I used my Bunnahabhain glencairn. I've recently broken two glencairns including my Ralfy one which was very upsetting. I fell on it, which isn't as bad as it sounds. I wasn't wasted from too much tasting or anything, bu there was a wet patch on the floor that I hadn't noticed and I slipped, falling on the glass which I'd left on the floor by my chair because I was too lazy to walk across the room to the table. I cut my hand a little, but that's ok, I was much more upset about breaking my glass. If you've never broken a glencairn you should know that they pretty much explode, and I was getting fragments of glass in my feet for weeks even though I cleaned it all up and vaccuumed my apartment several times.
The correct glass
Smell in the bottle
On opening
Initially impression is that it smells rich
Port
Dried fruits
Toffee
Vanilla, oaky vanilla I'd say
Bit herby
Malty cereal grains, like a bit pile of sweet grains.
Maybe allspice, kind of christmassy spiced biscuits.
Melting butter in a pan that's getting that slightly nutty quality.
Raisin
Prune
Dark dried fruits in general.
Maybe a touch of really dark cherry.
Dark chocolate.
A hint of something fresher, I'm half expecting mint to show so maybe thats it.
Christmas cake
Candied peel maybe.
Has a herby spicey complexity.
Later
Port
Juicy sweet grapes.
Vanilla.
Caramelly toffee.
Hint of choocolate.
Raisin.
Hint of mint fresh maybe.
Bit of sweet orange.
Fair bit less than originally there.
Neat
Nose
Fruity.
Dried fruits.
Raspberry.
Vanilla fudge.
Orange.
Sherried character to the nose.
Nuts.
Milk chocolate.
Not noticing burnt rummer, but there's a faint touch of phenolicness.
Touch of antiseptic, phenolicness.
Hazelnut syrup you get for coffee - sweet and nutty but not nutty like nuts. Make sense?
Fermented apple.
Bit of melon.
Soft caramel.
Maybe brazil nuts.
Kind of a fresh leafy herbal thing.
Marzipan.
Satsuma, orangey but not the same as I noted earlier.
Orange peel.
Green grapes.
Rich toffee.
Sandy earth.
Celery.
Celeriac, like celery but not the same. Savoury veg.
Dried fruits again but in a more cognac like way.
Arrival
At first a touch of herbal bitterness, quickly replaced by sweetness, then back to a herbal taste.
Surprisingly gentle for a 46.3% whisky, but there is alcohol sting.
Rich, almost chewy.
Toffee.
Development
Sweet, caramel.
Dried fruits.
Juicy.
Bit nutty.
Herbal in a fairly general way.
Toffos and herbs.
Alcohol sting takes over.
Finish
Nice dark chocolate.
Herbal complexity.
Dark dried fruits.
Bit nutty.
Dry, tanniny sensation.
Something that reminds me of playng "Micky Mouse: Castle of Illusion" on the Sega mastersystem years ago. Couldn't tell you what, something in my parents' living room. Something in the taste or smell brought up that memory.
Hint of coffee maybe, dark roast coffee, fresh ground although I'm sitting relatively near to my coffee table which had fresh ground dark roast coffee all over it.
Gooseberry, just a hint, tinned gooseberry I think.
Cherry with dark chocolate for a moment then the cherry went and the chocolate lingered with a hint of fruit.
Herbal again.
Herby, but quite savoury. I was thinking bay leaf, but it's more like a stew with bayleaf in it.
Sweet stewed black pepper corn, like you get in the bottom of a pot of good får i kål. That's a Norwegian dish. The name means sheep in cabbage and it it literally sheep meat and babbage layered up in a big pot with whole black peppercorns and a bit of salt. You stew it for an hour and the peppercorns go soft and sweet tasting. Lovely.
Actual bay leaf.
Swiss chocolate with a high fat content, maybe cocoa butter.
water - 1-2 tsp
Nose
Rich toffee released at first.
Vaguely phenolic.
Herbal.
Nuts.
Dried fruit.
Bit sherry-ish, but not the same as a properly sherried whisky.
Toffee.
Bit of vanilla maybe.
Dry wood, Most likely oak given the rules about casks having to be made of oak. Not massively oaky though.
Sweetish woody-ish.
Sweet orange.
Dry grass.
Sour cherry stone. You know when you have a cherry and then get distracted and end up sucking the stone for ages? Like that.
Sour plum I think.
Apricot, fresh not dried.
Bit of sweet apple.
Kind of a sweet woody syrup, not unlike maple but not maple.
Touch of Brazil nut.
Caramel.
Caramelised brown sugar like crem brulee.
Orangey hint, but kind of caramelised.
Buttery toffee sauce.
Banana.
Bay leaf.
Celery coming in again after.
Touch of peach.
Touch of fresh mint.
Arrival
Quite short.
Sweet, but complex.
Herbal, complex herbal.
Touch of citrus, bit like sweet lemon.
Bit nutty.
Baked Babana.
Toffee or caramel. Not strictly in either camp, but that kind of taste.
Nutty toffee, bit like dime bar.
Touch salty.
Development
Sweet, rich toffee.
Herbal complexity.
Touch of nuttiess.
Vanilla-ish, but different.
Dark chocolate.
sweet orangey.
A hint of fresh mint.
Some nuttiness, reminded me of chocolate brazils.
Herbal again.
Brazil nut a bit clearer.
Milk chocolate, mixed with vanilla.
A little spicy in a fairly general way.
Finish
Dark chocolate.
Sweet, soft caramel.
Faint tea-like tannin.
Complex, bitter-ish fresh herbs.
Bit nutty.
Hint of orange.
Brazil nut, slightly oily.
Grape skins, kind of tannin dryness.
How close was I to Bunnahabhain's own description?
As a lot of distilleries do Bunnahabhain have been good enough to furnish us with a description of the taste. I managed to ignore it until now. Or possibly I read it and forgot all about it because I've been pissing about instead of churning out reviews for months. Anyway, let's have a comparison. Here's what they say:
Appearance
Pale bronze.
Nose
Rich dried fruits, toasted hazelnuts with hints of mouthwatering candy sweets, butterscotch, marzipan and rose syrup.
Palate
Lively and satisfyingly smooth. A tantalising fusion of ripe cherries, prunes, apricots, orange marmalade with subtle hints of rich cocoa and spicy oak.
Finish
Temptingly warm, nutty and spicy.
It's actually pretty accurate. Obviously they're using very positive language because they're trying to make a sale as well as describe the taste and smell. I've already mentioned the colour, which I suppose is pale bronze if you use a little imagination. The nose description is more or less right. I got dried fruits and nuttiness, caramelly notes although I'm not sure about butterscotch. I have no idea what rose syrup is, but I imagine it smells a bit like rose water or turkish delight and I didn't pick that up. I don't think I'm getting it now either. Sometimes a smell becomes really obvious after it's been pointed out, but not this time. That could be because I don't know what it smells like.
The palate was accurate too. The word "tantalising"is clearly there to make it sound inviting, but the cherry, prune, apricot, oranginess (althouth I didn't call it marmalade) cocoa and oak are all there.
I got a bit more detail in the finish, but their description is pretty good. "Warm" is most likely the alcohol, but it's nutty and there's some spice to it. I had the spice in the end of the development, but the line between development and finish is completely arbitrary.
A few extra comments
I'm really not noticing the burnt rubber I would normally associate with Bunnahabhain, although there is some phonolis in the form of antiseptic. I did think I got a hint of dish soap at one point, but it was only on one tasting so I assumed I just hadn't rinsed the glass properly after washing it.
Interesting to have red wine barrel influence.It has some of the character of sherry cask matured whisky, but not so much of the usual fruity sweetness. There was a hint of mint in there, which I heard is a characteristic of sherry matured whiskies by eavesdropping on a whisky tasting being held at the hotel I work at. Fred Laing of the Douglas Laing independent bottling company said it so I believe it.
Water seems to reduce the phenolic nature. Too much water washes out the arrival but leaves the raw alcohol feel at the back of the throat. I think thats a clue to the youth of the whisky, since young whiskies tend to feel a little raw in the throat according to a bloke I met in a pub.
I've been trying to find an age for it. The best I found was a review that reckoned it was 3 years, but I think that was based on it being a non-age statement whisky. The law says it has to be three years old so I think that's why they gave it that age, but I'd say it's more like seven or eight. Not sure though, I think it has a bit more barrel influence than three years would give it, but I'm more or less guessing.
Conclusion
All in all not a bad effort from Bunnahabhain. I would have preferred to know the age and not that there is a Gaelic phrase for the morning sky. interesting to bring in some different casks to the usual bourbon and sherry, but that seems to be the way to do it these days due to the apparent shortage of bourbon and sherry casks. It's not the most interesting whisky in terms of complexity and general pleasurability though. Nothing really wrong with it, but if I'm going to spend money I'd prefer to do it on something with a bit more going on. On the standard one to ten scale I'd give it to friends and I'd join them in a glass. Would I buy it again? Probably not, but not because it's bad whisky. I'd just prefer something else in the same price range that I think is better, like Bunnahabhain 12 year old which is awesome, or I'd try something new.
That's it for now. I've got a couple of others already written so I'll post those in a week or two to space things out a bit. Have a nice time and don't forget to alert your friends and family to the existence of my spectacularly magnificent blog.
Related reviews
Whisky review No.5 - Bunnahabhain 12 yo scotchWhisky review No.14 - Bunnahabhain Toiteach Scotch
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