© The Islay Festival of Music and Malt
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:
Nose: Big peaty and coastal nose. Peat smoke, sea breeze, the return of medicinal Laphroaig with iodine, TCP and bandages, honey, very crisp, more peat smoke. After a few minutes green fruits, ripe and unripe apples, kiwi, more honey and sweet peat with medicinal notes in the backseat along with hints of tropical fruits. 
Nose: Sweet nose, red fruits with plums, sour-sweet red berries, blueberries, roses, honey, vanilla, oily and heavy. After a few minutes the berries legion is led with raspberries mixed up with a few strawberries, hints of spice and white pepper, cinnamon and hard candies. 
Nose: Somewhat dry and quite oily, A very airy feeling like we’re sniffing it from afar time does the trick and the it’s getting stronger and bolder: grapes, a bit of smokiness (and no, it’s not a Moine release), sultanas, sweet honey, pears and peaches, beeswax. After a few more minutes, soft and gentle peat, nuts and honeyed grapes. Fruit blossoms perfume. 
Nose: Red fruits, the STR cask is dominant at first with tannins and red wine. Cereals, honeyed peaches, a bit of chocolate (with some charred cask smoke). After a few minutes the PX finish enters the stage with more dried fruit and chocolate but the honey, cereals and gentle wine are the backbone of this whisky. 
Nose: Soft dried fruit, cereals, milk chocolate, raspberries and blueberries, cinnamon, nutmeg and soft oak spice. After a few minutes there’s a darker shade of chocolate with extra cocoa, dried cherries and strawberries, berries perfume. 
Nose: Lovely depth of notes. There’s earthy side here with dried fruits, and Portobello mushrooms, dark chocolate, sherry vinegar, dark cherries, a few specks of nutmeg and cinnamon and eventually the Deanston honey and cereals shows up through the cracks of the sherry casks notes. 
Nose: Soft, strong malt and cereals notes, with bread dough and croissant, honey. Then sweet red dried berries, cinnamon and nutmeg, chocolate, creamy and soft. The sherry impact isn’t overpowering here but the balance between the notes is exquisite. 
Nose: Malty and sweet grapes a la muscat, almonds croissant, nutty, nutmeg, sultanas, very soft, hint of pepper, soft and silky. 
Whisky Gospel 