The Kilchoman Fèis Ìle 2020 festival bottling was good – can we continue this trend with the Bunnahabhain festival bottlings? There were 3 festival bottlings this year, two were announced before the festival and one was released as a surprise during the virtual open day.

The more accessible festival bottle, just like previous years, was a Bunnahabhain Moine. This time it was a 2010 vintage finished in Amontillado sherry casks.

Let’s check it out:

Bunnahabhain Mòine 2010 Amontillado Fèis Ìle 2020 (56.9%, £99, 1658 bottles)

Nose: soft smoke, sweet grapes, fermented grapes, oily, slightly toasted nuts, a bit of salted fish carpaccio, grapes peels (yeah, a lot of grapes related notes), tobacco smoke behind, fresh, dough, cereals, fresh with some sour sweet juice, vanilla, green fruits, artificial canned tropical juice, apricots, whiffs of char and well defined smoke.

Palate: Peat, smoke, sweet honey, sweet fruitiness, pears, peaches, apricots and grapes, cocoa paste, allspice, a bit of malt and cereals, oily and mouth coating, feels more moine-y than the nose.

Finish: Medium long, peat, smoke, coating cocoa, oily, linger fruits and grapes.

Thoughts: Surprisingly not much moine-ness here but the liquid works well with the Amonillado sherry that bestowed lots of grapes succulency and tamed the moine peat smoke. Bottom line – I really like it – probably even more than 2019 and 2018 variations.