Welcome back Folks. Today I am back with yet another Bunnahabhain. I have taken an interest in this bottle quite a few years ago but I never purchased it. Why? Bunnahabhain Toiteach A Dhà is a very controversial bottle just like Stiùireadair. Oh, by the way read my review of the Stiùireadair and about my epic adventure by CLICKING HERE. It's controversial because it's also a small batch release and there are huge differences batch-to-batch as with most Bunnahabhains. At least that is what I'm lead to believe from various sources such as Whiskybase and YouTube.

One of my favourite whiskytubers Gwhisky also made a video about this bottle twice. He made the first video 3 years ago, rating it 87 / 100, then he published a new video 4 months ago, rating it 83 / 100. On the new video's thumbnail it reads: "it's changed a lot" and the title of the video is "what happened?". So yeah -4 points in a few years is a change. Definitely batchy. Make sure to check out Geoff's Instagram here and his YouTube channel here. Keep on creating good content my friend!

Let's dive into this bottle, let's see what it's all about and let's see if I got a good batch. PS.: I don't think it's a bad thing that Bunnahabhain is different from batch-to-batch. This way you can get some great batches and of course some bad batches BUT it never gets boring, it's never the same and that Folks in my opinion is fun.

About the distillery

Bunnahabhain distillery was founded in 1881 near Port Askaig on Islay. The village of Bunnahabhain was founded to house its workers. Bunnahabhain is one of the milder single malt Islay whiskies available and its taste varies greatly from other spirits to be found on the island of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland. Originally the distillery was supplied by ship, but in 1960 a road was built to the distillery. The last delivery by ship was in 1993. The distillery closed in 1981 but was reopened in 1984 when demand picked up. In 2003 it was acquired by Burn Stewart which merged with Distell in 2014 and is one of nine active distilleries on the island. Their core range consists of the 12-18-25-30-40 year old bottlings and the Stiuireadair and Toiteach A Dhà bottlings.

The production volume of Bunnahabhain is at about 3.5 million litres of alcohol per year. The water for the distillation comes from the Margadale River. It flows underground, so the water has to be pumped to the surface via pipes.

The distillery has four pot stills. The two wash stills have a capacity of 30,000 litres each but are only filled with 17,500 litres. The two spirit stills are half the size and are filled with about 10,000 litres each. The pot is pear-shaped and round. This results in a rather spicy and a bit rough whisky.

The malt comes from the Port Ellen Maltings, which are located on the southern half of the island of Islay. The distillery has large storage capacities for malt that even exceed those of Port Ellen Maltings. In the past, Bunnahabhain could only be supplied by ship, as a proper road to the distillery was not built until the 1960s. Therefore, a larger warehouse inevitably had to be built in order to have a stock available in case of shortages.

In the various malt bins, the distillery can store peated and unpeated malt separately. Currently, Bunnahabhain works with 40% peated and 60% unpeated malt.

Bunnahabhain has the traditional flat bricked dunnages. They are all right next to or very close to the sea. This allows the Whisky to interact with the marine air on Islay. There are around 15,000 casks stored on the distillery's premises. Bunnahabhain whisky is almost exclusively bottled in Sherry casks.

Bunnahabhain Toiteach A Dhà  - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 46.3%

"The Bunnahabhain Toiteach A Dhà has a touch of smoke in our peated malted barley whisky, introduced during its creation and combined with a higher sherry influence, this special bottling offers the connoisseur an opportunity to try something truly unique and beguiling in nature.

Meaning 'Smoky Two' in Scots Gaelic, Toiteach A Dhà (pronounced Toch-ach ah-ghaa) is a sequel to the original peaty paradox on Bunnahabhain's gentle single malt. To create this Mòine variant, our blending team selected a combination of ex Bourbon and Sherry casks which were then fully matured in our coastal warehouses on Bunnahabhain Bay.

With touches of smoke from our peated malted barley, this whisky's prickling strength emanates from the dram, while warming with a lingering, robust length and delicately sweet sherry influence."

Nose: Wow. Surprisingly smoky. I tasted an Ardbeg 5 before this one and this one smells smokier. Cigar smoke, tar and iodine. Sea breeze, brine. Maritime. Raisins, milk chocolate and toasted nuts. Vanilla and toffee with caramel. Juicy oranges and red apples. Herbal notes. Cinnamons and cloves. Freshly cut wood and earthy peat. Great complex nose. Not at all what I had expected.

Taste: Elegant. Round and oily. Hefty mouthfeel. Alcohol is well integrated, doesn't stand out. Ash and earty peat. Campfire smoke. Maritime notes. Salt. When the smoke disappears, we are greeted by juicy blood oranges, raisins and forest fruits. Apple pie and cinnamon rolls with vanilla sauce. A hint of toasted oak at the end. It's great. Not boring. Definitely on the complex side of things. Doesn't feel too young either.

Finish: The finish is long but quite one dimensonal. Maybe this is where it lacks a little bit. Ash and salt. Very dry and very smoky. Spicy and fruity. It's nothing extraordinary, however it won't disappoint you.

Overall I think this is a great whisky. It has a good amount of smoke and complexity. I thought it was going to be a bit less peated but oh well. It's great as it is. I would think that it does worth it's asking price and I might buy it again. Who knows? If you are unsure about buying this bottle, visit a bar and have a wee dram there. I rate this whisky a very very solid 85 / 100. For me the finish lacks a bit but overall it's great.

Some pictures in this article are not owned by me, I tagged their owner and I attached a link of their site. All other pictures that have my logo on them are TAKEN AND OWNED BY ME.

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Check out the points on all the whiskies I've rated and ranked head-to-head over HERE.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. To many more. Sláinte.