Hey There, I am back from a long break. We visited the Dolomites in Italy and we also spent two days in Austria last week to hike and recharge. YES, recharge while hiking. You are close to nature, no noise, just peace and the sound of birds and the view of beautiful landscapes and high peaks. Even though you walk for kilometeres and you climb, you still recharge. That's the beauty of it. At the end of this article I will show you a few pictures where we were so that you can see what I mean. At least part of it.

Today I will be reviewing the Bunnahabhain Stiùireadair, a whisky I wanted to pick up for a long time but I was torn due to the varying opinions and experiences. The 12 years old is one of my favourite in that category so I expect great things from the little brother. I already reviewed the 12 years old: you can check out that review by CLICKING HERE. And I also reviewed the 18 years old, which is obviously leagues above this bottle (probably...), you can check that review by CLICKING HERE.

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 per cent peated and 60 per cent 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 Stiùireadair - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 46.3%

"Bunnahabhain Stiùireadair; with a smattering of sea spray and dried fruit lingering on your lips, this sherried malt whisky will transport you to Bunnahabhain Bay with its brackish, coastal tinge.

Meaning Helmsman in Scots Gaelic, Stiùireadair, is the first Bunnahabhain release to pay homage to the Bunnahabhain Helmsman, who adorns every bottle. But our Helmsman is no mere icon, he is a reminder of our origins, a link to our past, and a symbol of our enduring appreciation of the sea by which we are surrounded.

To create Stiùireadair, our Master Blender has selected first and second fill sherry casks with spirit of varying ages and warehouse locations to construct a dram that truly exposes the coastal nature of the Bunnahabhain single malt whisky, whilst not losing the classic sherry influence everyone knows and loves in our famous 12 Year Old."

Nose: Quite closed off at first. Letting it air a bit is the key. After a few minutes, the smell of the whisky starts to come out more and more. Full and intense. A bit rough and spicy but the alcohol doesn't sting, so it's not because of that, it probably comes from the shape of the stills as I explained before. A nice coastal nose. Brine, sea breeze. A nice amount of vanilla and caramel coming through. Cherries and forest fruits. Dried figs and raisins. Quite nutty. No sign of youthness.

Taste: Sweet an spicy at the same time. Medium body. Lots of nuts and almonds. Milk chocolate, vanilla and freshly baked bread. Salt and oak. Black pepper. Cinnamon and cloves. Dried figs, raisins, sultanas. Quite complex and deep. Very good.

Finish: Medium finish. Warming from the spices. A basket of dried and fresh fruits. Cocoa and milk chocolate. Roasted almonds and hazelnuts. A hint of oak spice at the end.

Overall I am not disappointed. It's a very good value whisky and it's worth every penny. One problem though with Bunnahabhain is that they vary from batch to batch. Maybe yours won't be this good. Who knows? However I am rating this bottle 87 / 100. Outstanding NAS whisky.

The pictures I promised

Let me show you a few pictures of my adventures while I was away. I hope you enjoy.

🥾 88.08 km
🧗🏼‍♂️ 5612 m elevation
🏔️ Highest point: 2548 m
🕗 Longest hike: 9 hours 11 minutes, 19.04 km
🌡️ Lowest temperature: 8 Celsius

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.