Whisky : Bunnahabhain 11 Year SMWS 10.176 “Tea-smoked salmon”

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 59.2%

Cask : 2nd Fill Ex-Oloroso Hogshead

Age : 11 Years (Distilled 10 Dec. 2007, Bottled 18 March 2019)

Nose : Tropical seaside grill, browned butter, fresh shrimp, tarred ropes on a wet dock— this takes me straight to the coast.  Fatty salmon skin, spritz of citrus, and salt makes this dram drool worthy in an unseemly manner.  Beyond the seafood and seaside air is rich smoked dark chocolate and salted caramel.  

Palate :  Candied fish skin: salty and sweet notes just wrap around one another.  Japanese rice pudding the wife called it.  Fish oil, dark roasted coffee, salty stuffed crab, and black tea all combine and bubble up in interesting ways.  The dram is aptly named because meaty oily salmon is hard to miss.  Sweet smoked salmon builds toward the end.

Finish :  Lingering sweet char and Chinese medicinal spices

Score : 7

Mental Image : Alaskan Smoked Salmon; so sweet I ate it like candy as a child.

Something Better : Bowmore 21&; HL’s OMC for K&L (more topical fruit/pineapple, similar salmon)

Something Similar : Highland Park 17Y; Exclusive Malts (similar oily/meaty salmon, more tobacco/coal)

Something Worse : Westland Cask #2479 K&L (similar browned butter, more fruit/cola, no maritime)

Notes :  Complex, though not entirely cohesive, this dram was all over the place.  There were so many wonderful fishy dessert notes, though they did not quite come together in a solid manner.  A few drops of water simplified the palate and highlighted salted caramel and coffee, which may be perfect for some, but I missed the meaty notes.  

I once had a bacon chocolate bar— and this is not far off my memory of that, though it took me more toward a fried salmon skin chocolate bar.  Sounds disgusting.  Yet, with the oily quality of the body and some of the meaty notes, it did kind of work.  The tea, crab, and pudding tugged the dram in odd directions, but it was a lot of fun to close my eyes and see where the dram took me.

After just not really finding a Bunnahabhain to get me excited in 2019, 2020 has kicked off with two excellent bottles that really showcased a beautiful viscous and oily quality.  I doubt I would have even guessed this was Bunnahabhain— it has none of the grassiness I typically associate with the distillery, though perhaps the tea notes were a subtle nod in that direction.  The wife would have preferred if it were a bit less sweet and had a bit more smoke, but overall found it acceptable.  I was perhaps a bit more excited by its meatiness and weird maritime candy notes.