Welcome the 2020 edition Feis Ile bottles comprehensive guide!

Once again we’re starting early (before we turned the calendar page to 2020) as we gathered enough information to share with you.

In 2020, the festival will run from 22nd May 2020 to 30th May 2020.

This post will detail all the available information on the festival bottles 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 (But best to wait until Spring 2020 to see the 2020 updates) and you will be able to find the full Islay Festival Distillery Programmes 2020 here when it will be published.

Once again It’s a safe bet that just like in previous years, we will have a lot of Feis Ile bottlings from independent bottlers, even if many will not be using the trademarked ‘Feis Ile’ name – all will be updated in the post when the information will be released.

Updates:

02/06/2020 – Added Big Peat 8 Year Old bottle

01/06/2020 – Updates to Lagavulin and Caol Ila sections
31/05/2020 – Updates to Bunnahabhain and SMWS sections (Thanks Surya!)

05/05/2020 – COVID-19 impact update

Well, in the last few months a lot had happened. “Thanks” to the COVID-19 (Corona) virus, the Feis Festival was cancelled and most of the distilleries in Scotland were shutdown (some are shutdown for over 5 weeks and counting). This of course impacts the Feis Bottlings availability and I’ve finally updated the current list (including what was cancelled).

25/12/2019 – Updated Laphroaig Festival bottling
09/12/2019 – Initial release with SMWS and Ardbeg sections

So here’s the list of Feis Ile 2020 bottlings and the available information:

Lagavulin – Open day on Saturday 23rd May 2020

• Lagavulin 20 Year Old (54%, £190)

 Refill & PX/Oloroso treated hogsheads (perhaps some similarity to DE edition?), 6000 bottles.

Bruichladdich – Open day on Sunday 24th May 2020

• Port Charlotte 16 Year Old (55.8%, 3000 bottles, £150)

FEIS ILE 2020 DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE. Not the original planned Feis Ile 2020 bottling so the PC 16 labels have no mention of Feis Festival.

Distilled in 2003, from Scottish Barley new-make that was filled into three different parcels of casks.

Parcel One // Refill hogsheads, recasked into first fill bourbon barrels in 2012

Parcel Two // First fill bourbon barrels, recasked into ex-Sauternes casks in 2013

Parcel Three // A complex assemblage of ex-sherry, ex-bourbon and virgin oak casks

Caol Ila – Open day on Monday 25th May 2020

• Caol Ila 16 Year Old (53.7%, £120)

Refill then Amoroso-treated hogsheads (like a special DE edition), 3000 bottles.

Laphroaig – Open day on Tuesday 26th May 2020

• Laphroaig Cairdeas 2020 (Port and Wine Casks, 52%)

Initially it’s matured in Ex-Bourbon barrels and 2nd-fill Ruby Port Barriques and then finished in Red Wine casks.

The plan is to go ahead with this Feis Ile bottling and it will be available through the distillery web shop, USA shops and probably a few UK retailers.

Bowmore – Open day on Wednesday 27th May 2020

• Due to COVID-19 there will be no Bowmore Fèis Ìle 2020 bottlings

Ardnahoe – Open day on Wednesday 27th May 2020

• Due to COVID-19 there will be no new Kinship bottling for Fèis Ìle 2020

Kilchoman – Open day on Thursday 28th May 2020

• Kilchoman Feis Ile 2020 (12 Year Old, 54.2%, £108)

Online exclusive (via the distillery web-shop). 2630 bottles available at cask strength (54.2%) from ex-bourbon barrels.

Will be available on the web shop on Tuesday 12th May afternoon.

Jura – Open day on Thursday 28th May 2020

• TBD

Bunnahabhain – Open day on Friday 29th June 2020

• Bunnahabhain Amontillado Moine 2010 (56.9%, £99)

After initial maturation period of 6 years, a 3 years finish in ex-Amontillado hogsheads. 1658 bottles will be available through the distillery webshop.

 

 

 

• Bunnahabhain Madeira Finish 2002 (53.0%, £199)

After initial 14 years of maturation, a 3 years finish in ex-Madiera hogsheads. 1164  bottles will be available through the distillery webshop.

buy it here

 

 

• Bunnahabhain Spiorad An Dochais 30 Year Old (59.9%, £650)

Spiorad An Dochais means ‘Spirit of Hope’ in Scots Gaelic. 200 bottles available through the distillery webshop.

Ardbeg – Open day on Saturday 30th June 2020

• Ardbeg Blaaack(46%, £94)

Ardbeg celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Ardbeg committee and the celebratory bottle is Ardbeg Blaaack which is matured in Pinot Noir wine casks from New Zealand.

“Velvety Summer FRUIT PUDDING and BITTER CHERRY with a deeper edge of SOOT and Ardbeg’s hallmark of SMOKE”

 

SMWS (Scotch Malt Whisky Society)

Once again, just like in 2018 and 2019, SMWS bottles a few Islay distilleries casks to celebrate Feis Ile 2020 and since they are independent, they plan to sell them via the SMWS websites.

• 29.268 Essence of Gelfling (Laphroaig, 22 Year Old, 50.0%, 243 bottles)

Distilled 26.11.1996, 2nd Fill Ex-PX Sherry Finish.

• 29.269 It rubs the lotion on its skin
• 29.270 Collateral Drammage (Laphroaig, 8 Year Old, 58.8%, 228 bottles)

Distilled 15.06.2011 and filled into 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel. While the label says 50%, it’s 58.8% according to smws.com.au)

• 3.334 Loungecore Stave Exoticism (Bowmore, 15 Year Old, 50.0%, 228 bottles)

• 10.188 New acquaintance (Bunnahabhain, 14 Year Old, 62.5%, 489 bottles)

Distilled 25/11/2004, Refill Sherry Butt.

 

 

 

 

 

• 10.189 Umami you’ve been on my mind
• 10.190 Make Moine a Devil! (Bunnahabhain, 6 Year Old, 50.5%, 600 bottles)

Distilled 17.10.2013 and filled into 2nd Fill Ex-Oloroso Sherry Butt. While the label says 50%, it’s 61.1% according to smws.com.au)

• 53.319 Back to the suture (Caol Ila, 13 Year Old, 58.2%, 261 bottles)

Distilled 18/07/2006, Refill bourbon hogshead.

 

 

 

 

 

• 53.320 Raiders of the Flossed Ark (Caol Ila, 12 Year Old, 50.0%, 282 bottles)

• 53.321 Grog myrtle
• 33.139 You Would Not Believe! (Ardbeg, 12 Year Old, 50.0%, 606 bottles)

Distilled 24.05.2007 and filled into 2nd Fill Ex-Oloroso Sherry Butt. While the label says 50%, there’s good chance it’s just a placeholder and it’s probably 61.3% according to whiskybase.com)

Hunter Laing

• Kinship 2020 (TBD) No Kinship bottles will be availble in time due to the COVID-19 Virus

Douglas Laing

• Big Peat 8 Years Old “A846” Edition (46%, £45)

500 bottles, will be available from specialist spirits retailers globally from 8 th
June 2020