Last years post on the Feis Ile 2014 bottles was a smash hit so it’s time for a repeat with a new post on the 2015 Islay Festival Feis Ile bottles!

Like last year, the festival will run from 23rd to 31st of May 2015 and with two prominent distilleries, Ardbeg and Laphroaig, celebrating their 200 year since (official) foundation year, its bound to be a very interesting and exciting festival.

This post will detail all the available information on the festival bottlings and I’ll update it each time more details will be revealed.

If you look for the full festival information, go to the Festival site at islayfestival.com and you can find the full Islay Festival Distillery Programmes 2015 here

In addition to the official bottlings by the distilleries, there’s a plethora of special Feis Ile bottlings by external organizations such as Douglas Laing, SMWS and the Islay House Hotel.

So here’s the list of Feis Ile 2015 bottlings and the available information:

 

Lagavulin – Open day on Saturday 23th May 2015

• Lagavulin 1991 – 59.9% (Cask strength), £128, 3500 bottles

Triple maturation expression. short second maturation in PX casks and third maturation is a lengthy gentle maturation in old oak puncheons

Bruichladdich – Open day on Sunday 24th May 2015

• 50cl Black Art Valinch ‘High Noon’ – £100, 1881 bottles
• 2 Port Charlotte valinches: Rhinns (30 ppm) & Lochindaal (50ppm)

Caol Ila – Open day on Monday 25th May 2015

• Caol ila 1998 – 57.3%, £99, 1500 bottles
  

Triple maturation. First classic maturation in American Oak, double maturation in Moscatel, third gentle maturation in old oak puncheons.

Laphroaig – Open day on Tuesday 26th May 2015

• Laphroaig Cairdeas (51.5% NAS but probably 2003 vintage)

A 11-12 yo whisky which is fully malted in the distillery malting floor instead of the usual combination of local malting with Port Ellen malting. I’m SO looking forward it! 🙂

 

Bowmore – Open day on Wednesday 27th 2015

• Bowmore Feis Ile 2015 – 55.7%, 1000 Bottles, £55

This years special bottling for Feis Ile 2015 has been matured in hand-selected Virgin Oak casks and was bottled at natural cask strength. 700 bottles from this special release of 1000 bottles will go on sale at the Distillery Visitor Centre from 10am on Saturday 23rd May. The remaining 300 bottles will go on sale on Wednesday 27th May

• Bowmore Feis Ile 2015 1988 Vintage, 26 Year Old – 248 Bottles, £350

Sherry Cask Matured whisky.

You can order online at Milroy’s for £580

In addition there is a Fill your own bottle: a 2002 Oloroso Sherry Cask No 2214. This bottling will be available from 10am on Saturday 23rd May. Price – £80

Jura – Open day on Thursday 28th May 2015

• Jura Tastival 2015 (18yo) –  52%,  3,970 bottles, £85

Maturated in specially selected sparkling wine barrels from the chalk cellars of the House of Bouvet Ladubay in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. Distilled in 1997 and bottled 18 years later.

 

Kilchoman – Open day on Thursday 28th May 2015

• Feis Ile 2015 – 58.2%, 742 bottles, £78.60

Updated (26/5/2015) – The Feis Ile 2015 release is a vatting of 3 fresh bourbon barrels at 7 years of age, the oldest release bottled so far. There are 742 individually numbered bottles at 58.2%abv.

This release will be available on the Open Day from the distillery. The price is £78.60 and limited to 1 bottle per person.

• 10th Anniversary bottling – 58.2%, 3000 bottles, £88.80

Will contain whiskey from 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 (source: Kilchoman site) from bourbon and sherry casks.

• Islay Pipe Bank Single Cask

Islay Pipe Band single cask is a bourbon barrel filled in 2010 and finished a Pedro Ximenez sherry cask for 2 months prior to bottling.  The release will available from Monday the 18th of May.

Buy at Whisky Abby for  £138

Bunnahabhain – Open day on Friday 29th May 2015

• Rubha A’ Mhail 11yo – 57.4%, 1200 bottles

Not much is yet known on this whisky release but according to the blurb published by Bunnahabhain it’s rich and sweet, with a touch of sea salt. (so it’s probably a vatting of sherry casks here).

 

• Moscatel 18yo – 250 bottles

A Bunnahabhain expression, matured for 18 years in Moscatel wine cask with only 250 bottles available.

Ardbeg – Open day on Saturday 31st May 2015

• Ardbeg Perpetuum – 49.2%, £70

This years Ardbeg day bottling is called Perpetuum. There were previous in-the-work titles such as Continuum and Bicentennial, but Perpetuum is the name and surprise, it’s already available in the distillery shop and on 4-May-2015 it was made available on the Ardbeg webshop. (sold out)

Perpetuum was made wide available on 1/6/15. It got sold out in most places within hours, but as I write this it’s still available at the Whisky Exchange for £84.95. In the USA it will be available on 2/6/15 for $100 (here and here  and in other places)

Douglas Laing

• Old Particular Laphroaig 2001 14 yo – 48.4%, 636 bottles, DL10694

Already on sale and will probably be on sale during the Festival as well.

Buy at the Green Well Stop for £89

Buy at The Whisky Barrel for £90.43

Buy at Reifferscheid’s Wine & Whisky Bonn, Germany for 119.9 Euro (info@whisky-bonn.de)

• SMWS 3.243 Dark, smouldering flamenco gypsy (17 yo Bowmore), 57.1%

From a refill ex-sherry butt with the color of ‘Coca-cola spilled on mahogany’, the smoke and sherry combination in this dram is sure to bring much pleasure and interest

£80 for SMWS members, £120 for non-members.

• Islay House bottling – Bruichalddich Port Charlotte (2004, 55%, 334 bottles)

A Bruichladdich Port charlotte bottling, distilled 27.10.2004 and matured in Cadiz single cask, bottled at 55%