07/09/2021 Bunnahabhain

Bunnahabhain 11yo b.2020 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail Discovery, Sherry Casks, 20/6032): nose:  soft and gentle, this nose has plum juice, and plums and peaches starting to decay -- as in: a thin layer of lichen is forming on their skin. It has a drop of nut oil and subtle wood lacquer. Hazelnut oil, yet also walnut shells and polished walnut, even though it never reaches dashboard levels. The hazelnut turns creamy, after a moment, and it is joined by berries -- wild strawberries, to be precise. Maybe also greengages. Pretty soon, all that is submerged by a wave of assertive wood scents; cutting boards, wood shavings, straight off the plane, paper pulp and stone-dry orange rind. Mouth: light, lively and pretty dry, the palate restores the plum, although it is not juicy, here, and relegates the hazelnut oil to the background. Not much strawberry to speak of, here, and, if there is, it is dried slices of it, more than the fresh fruit. On the other hand, the tongue is treated to the bitterness of orange rind (of the dried kind too). One would be forgiven for finding a very-faint note of burning wood, so distant that it is hardly worth mentioning. Balsawood, birchwood, not quite cedarwood, but you get the picture: a woody bitterness catches up with the fruit from the attack, without ever dominating too clearly. Finish: this is much more modern, with the cask doing much of the talking; vanilla, custard-cream biscuit, toffee. Very good too, just a tad less original. Not much bitterness makes it this far; instead it is sweet, custard-y pastry: pineapple upside-down caramel tart, toffee, yellow kiwi turnovers and mild sawdust, as well as a spoonful of melted white chocolate. A big, boisterous Bourbon cask indeed. Fits very well in the Discovery range. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, KM)