Bunnahabhain 18YO, 46.3% - Whisky Wednesday

[@TamasStipic]

I’ve just picked up a bottle, literally yesterday, on my way home in Hackney. I always bring a bottle back for dad when I visit my parents, and I know he only tried the 12. What a lovely coincidence, with you releasing this video. Glad to see I chose well.

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Truly os good stuff. Enjoy!

[@sandrofazzolari8833]

A fine review Phil as usual! I just cannot justify that kind of money 💰… I am happy I have some of the 12YO which is good enough for me. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Ciao 👋 S.

[@WhiskyWednesday]

The 12YO more than does the job.

[@JohnsDrams]

I just came by to say congrats to 10k but I'll take a cheeky shout out! I'm still not dry from that day. It was raining, viewers. Mind out the gutters, plz.

[@kanesmith4961]

Earlier tonight I poured a Bunnahabhain Moine you made me get (with multiple backups) 5 years ago. Still a favorite, I'll be sad when this last bottle is gone. The 18yr doesn't seem to move at all in my part of the US, very easily available. But I realize I have focused on young age peated Bunnas from independent bottlers a whole lot more lately.

[@keithpetersen560]

I still have my unopened bottle of Bunnahabhain Moine Oloroso that I bought several years ago, after Phil's review. What part of the U.S. are you referring to where the 18 yr is easily available?

[@justwhisky]

Glad you mentioned batch variations because I’ve only had one bottle from I think 2018 or 19 and didn’t/haven’t got on well with it at all…. Very harsh and unrefined IMO. Great review on your part. Cheers 🥃

[@WhiskyWednesday]

That's interesting! I've enjoyed the whisky the older I've become. Don't remember trying it in 2018/19. Possibly dodged a bullet.

[@Rohit_M]

Great review Phil. Given the current pricing climate, it looks like many whisky aficionados have to make do with the 12, 10 year old offerings. I acquired Bunna 18 a year ago based on my interactions with the 12 yr old over the last couple of years. I can't speak for the old releases but this is a quality offering in that age range.

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Yes, I do think it's good whisky. But with everything that is happening, drinking the younger and more affordable stuff is the way to go now.

[@MrChristopherMolloy]

Bunnahabhain 18 has been a favorite of mine, but Ralfy had some unkind words for a recent release of it he reviewed; so I'm very curious to hear what other reviewers have to say about it. I have an unopened bottle from about a year ago, but given the 2022 price-hikes, I don't see myself buying another bottle of it anytime soon; so I'm hesitant to crack it open just out of curiosity.

[@WhiskyWednesday]

I can understand that. It's a bottle you have, so anytime is good - but it isn't the richest, sweetest sherry thing. So perhaps open it when you're after something different.

[@keithpetersen560]

I agree with your notes and score. I remember when this bottle was $100 and now its $175 if you can find it. Didn't know its only released twice a year now. Have you noticed any difference in the profile, since the recent package change? Probably one of the best 18 yr for me. This bottle would rock if it was cask strength. I recently bought 2 bottles of the 12 yr cask strength 2021 edition and that is well worth the $80 bottle price. Great review.

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Haven't seen a significant alter in batches of older Bunnahabhain, personally. But I've enjoyed it more the older I got, it wasnt sweet enough when I was a younger drinker, but now it hits the spot! Still haven't tried the 12CS.

[@agrainofmalt]

Great whisky, just too expensive sadly... I'd have it on my shelf all the time if it were a bit cheaper. Over €160 here now... :/

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Prices are going insane, as soon as Balbalir pricing changed it ruined all of whisky.

[@SaltyCuban]

Ralfy seems to have truly been disappointed with this one a year ago. Scored it an 82 I think. Idk what to make of it. Nobody else is that hard of a scorer on this 18 yr old. I for one had a 12 yr Bunna once, that to me was one of the tastiest scotch I’ve ever had. Once the level went down some, days later it no longer tasted as good. Regardless it had one of those magical moments you get once in a long while with great whisky. Had those moments with Bunna, Lagavulin , Glendronach and I want to say maybe bladnoch 10? Anyhow. What bottle would you say is the best experience for @ 130 pounds today? Regardless of age or abv.

[@WhiskyWednesday]

He was rather tough on it, but I've found that Bunnahabhain are one of the most batch variant styles of malt whisky. That is a tough question. Ignoring single cask offerings of which there could be far too many. I've made a list instead. Most are below £130. - Ledaig 18YO - Glendronach 18YO - Redbreast 15YO - Black Bull 21YO - Glenallachie 18YO - Tamdhu 18YO But if you can try some single cask stuff, I think that's where the gems in this price point would be.

[@chrisgwhisky]

I’m curious about what do you mean when you say that this tastes very malty? Does that mean it tastes bready? Maybe I don’t know what “malt” tastes like.

[@WhiskyWednesday]

More of a biscuit/thicker texture to it.

[@MrChristopherMolloy]

Speaking of another whisky more or less unavailable these days, for less that the price of Bunnahabhain 18 and almost all other 18s, Glen Scotia Victoriana (at least the last two bottlings) is preferable IMHO in this premium-priced category.

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Couldn't agree more.

[@TheAldawg77]

Get an electric bug swat and deal to those fruit flys

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Opted for mass genocide by luring them into a pot with washing up liquid and vinegar. Problem solved.

[@welshtoro3256]

In fairness Phil, the claim that it was 60% bourbon - 40% sherry came straight from the lions mouth. Here's the link. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4abnphsZ9CNe7s It's the distillery themselves. That makes me wonder what's going on here and it plays into my theory that whisky distilleries are really struggling to find quality casks, especially quality sherry casks. It's very possible that six years ago, when that video was released, Bunnahabhain had better sherry casks and 60% in the vatting was enough to make quality whisky. My guess is that Bunnahabhain can't get that quality any more and are having to fully mature in used, lower quality, casks to get a similar result. That might also explain why it has become allocated. My last bottle of 18 was bought around the time of that video and much as I enjoyed it I really felt it was a case of very diminishing returns compared with the 12. Better, yes, but not that much better. Distilleries today (and I have no sympathy) find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Put up the price of your entry expression (but we'll just stop buying it if it's too much) or price your (not that much better) older expression, out of reach. The thing is that expressions like Bunnahabhain 12 and Talisker 10, which have nominally gone up in to stupid prices, are routinely discounted in supermarkets (Talisker 10 - £30; Bunnahabhain12 - £36) when we stock up and the distilleries still get rich. When it's cheaper we buy more and the distilleries know that. Let's face it, the main function of Talisker is to provide malt for Johnnie Walker so it's churned out without limit. I'm never, ever, going to spend more than £30 for the 10 and all that NAS shite is pure opportunism and marketing. I know that's a problem for smaller, independent, retailers that can't do what the supermarkets do but they are no more a victim than the paying customer of the ridiculous greed of distillery owners in the past ten years. Bunnahabhain make more money from the 12 than any other expression, I'm sure. I really do want another bottle of the 18 but it's one of those drams that has, like Michelangelo's depiction of God and humanity in the Sistine Chapel, parted, tantalisingly, just out of reach. WT

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Reading this was quite incredible, also, welcome back WT. Been a while since I've read one of your comments, always happy to see them. You're not wrong with any of this. The whisky is good for the current market crop of 18YO products, but I'd still buy the 12YO or their peated expressions before it. As someone who falls in and out of love with sherry I don't feel too attahced to it as a style. It is all in a crisis; I'm not sure how, when or what will stop it.

[@Nikolay_Nikolov]

I'd very much like to try this one but it is out of stock everywhere I usually buy my whisky. Plus its price in Bulgaria is plain ugly. Half an year ago, when it was still available in some shops, the price was pushing 150 euros. Knowing that I have bought two bottles of Glendronach 18 for 150 euros total didn't help making myself buying this Bunna. Price can be objective too. I highly doubt that production costs of Bunnahabhain 18 can justify its price. On the subjective side, I also doubt that a bottle of Bunnahabhain 18 will please me as much as two bottles of Allardice. Still, I haven't given up on Bunna 18. Either It has to objectively become cheaper, which is highly unlikely, or I have to move towards perceiving it as acceptable value subjectively😀 Cheers!

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Look after those Allardice's.

[@greenvalley651]

very very expensive now days those bottles you have being reviewing lately , that bunnahabhain 18 is almost 200 dollars in my area now , I cant afford it at those prices, good for the people that can, cheers,

[@WhiskyWednesday]

Gotta review what's available at the time, luckily my friend had a bottle of this open and borrowed it my way. The aim this year was to review more affordable bottles, and we have, but I couldn't turn down the chance to break this one down, or the past few bottles. The pricing is a shame, but that's just the way older bottlings of whisky are going. Cheers.