Bunnahabhain - Moíne Bordeaux Red Wine Cask - 2008-2018 - 58,1%
Photo taken somewhere in Haifa
With their magnificent 12 year old standard and by adding heavily peated expressions to their portfolio, Bunnah (as most geeks call it) has lately managed to evolve from a dusty and rusty distillery, to become a highly seeked brand, especially on the indie bottler's front. Now there is this red wine cask, we always try to avoid. Anyway, curiosity beats German Angst, so let's walk onto the battlefield.
Nose
Bleeding hell, we've just blundered into a bloody, savage barbecue! Tons of game meat are sizzling on a huge peat fire. New leather is hanging on the trees for drying. The peatiness is extremely heavy and dirty and we bloody love it! Octomore feels almost tame compared to this beast! After some time the grilled meat subsides a bit and gives room for undefined dark fruits, a fresh and salty seabrize and wet wood planks.
With water: Completely changed and turns from grilled meat to a medicinal experience with bandages and iodine. And the best part of it: No trace of typical red wine notes to be found.
Palate
Mayday, can somebody please help and hold back that beast! It's extremely powerful, rich and dense like a nucleus. We're chewing on a peat brick, packed with farmy and spicy notes, a lovely honey sweetness, medicine, tarr and a huge load of white and black pepper. It's raging. Yet, the alcohol is properly integrated and comes with a heavy body.
With water: Feels kind of rounder and sweeter now, but the richness even turned up, which rarely happens.
Finish
Longer than Europe's Thirty Years War. Speaking of which: heavy notes of gundpowder, tarr and burnt rubber turned the palate into a huge theater of war. Old grapefruit and lemon peels are also present. Even though we are staunch pacifists, we are thrilled by this finish.
Rating
In case you appreciate songs from Rammstein or Metallica, this dram is the pure liquidification of that music. It's extreme, provocative, 'in your face' and sexy in one breath. A raw and rustic experience so to speak. But as we know from good heavy metal pieces, it can be loud and rough, yet perfectly constructed and not chaotic for a second.
