Earlier this year many of special editions in Distell 2019 Collection were covered here but some avid readers noticed I didn’t post reviews for some of them for some reason.

The headline of the collection is Bunnahabhain 1988 30 Year Old that was finished in Marsala casks. I skipped reviewing it back then as it wasn’t yet available in shops, but now that it did hit the shelves, here are my impressions of it:

Bunnahabhain 1988 30 Year Old Marsala Finish (47.4%, £450/€489,95)

Nose: Soft, there’s nice depth here, tropical fruits, pineapple, kiwi. Meshes well with the Marsala impact of soursweet red fruit and tingling spice, roses petals and cinnamon.

Palate: Tropical fruits pineapple, kiwi, dusty spices, cinnamon and milk chocolate.

Finish: Medium length, sweet pineapple, dusty, gentle pepper heat, oak spice and milk chocolate.

Thoughts: Great nose but palate is not on the same level as it remains somewhat flat (or you can call it a bit less depth and complexity than the nose) and has a single minded fruity dimensional, yet it’s tasty with all those tropical fruits and spices. But the bottom line is that I think that last year’s Palo Cortado finish was better (especially in the VFM department).