Whisky : Bunnahabhain “Staoisha” 6 Year; The Whisky Barrel

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 59.7%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Bourbon

Nose :  Opens with lovely grassy sweetness, creamy meringue, and vanilla pods— then everything catches on fire.  Burnt grass, greasy-oily boat rags, and chargrilled unagi make for a lovely meatiness and dash of maritime influence.  Sinus clearing herbs come near the end along with more pleasant lemon meringue.

Palate :  Oily and viscous, there is a wonderful palate coating consistency.  Complex mix of herbal, citrus, and smoke notes.  Pungent camphor, herbal bitter syrup, charred lemon, burning grass, and sweet licorice take this dram all over the place finally winding up somewhere around smoked oyster juice with licorice bitters. The wife described it as smoked herbs on a meaty fish, or maybe smoked pork with shiso leaves and oysters.  Bit of creamy rich roasted peanut butter and nuts come near the end.

Finish :  Lingering sweet lemon oil and herbs.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Oyster Juice Martini

Something Similar : Ledaig 13Y; Single Malts of Scotland (similar smoke/shiso, less grass/maritime)

Something Similar : Rock Island 18Y; Douglas Laing (similar lemon meringue/maritime, more spice)

Something Worse : Bunnahabhain 12Y SMWS 10.141 (similar grass/sea, lighter palate, less complex)

Notes :  This is the Bunnahabhain I was looking for— this was absolutely wonderful and if I could easily get my hands on a bottle I most certainly would.  As is I will settle for some of the other independent bottler Staoisha I have seen in my parts.  There was so much lovely complexity and depth to the palate that every time I poured myself a dram I found something new and a little bit different.  Not only were the flavors great, the mouthfeel was excellent, which really helped carry this to the next level.  This is now my new high bar for what a maritime rich yet still mildly grassy Bunnahabhain should be.  Additionally little bit of water in this dram brought out a lovely waxiness, though it did simply the overall palate.  That is not a horrible trade off to make if this dram feels a bit hot or heavy at first, though I thought it was fine even at cask strength.