Review by: dustbunna
Distillery: Bunnahabhain.
Bottler: Distillery bottling.
Region: Islay.
ABV: 60.1%. Cask strength.
Age: 12 years. Bottled in 2023.
Cask type: Undisclosed but a significant portion of Oloroso sherry casks.
Price: $82 USD for 750mL.
Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 6 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point, italicized notes taken towards the heel.
Nose: salted caramel gelato, barley sugar, hints of moss and malty funk, old oiled wood, red fruits (cherries and strawberries), dark chocolate, water brings out Bit-O-Honey candy and cereal.
Palate: unsurprisingly there’s some heat but also a full, unctuous body ~ grape candy, more barley sugar, lemon peel, raisins, milk chocolate, nutmeg, a bit of oak pokes through (especially with water added.)
Finish: long ~ dusty books, more moss and malt, a seltzer-like effervescence, more lingering red fruit, raisins, and chocolate.
Conclusion: This makes for a big dram, uncompromisingly sherried, unctuous and bold. I’ve been quite fond of both Bunnahabhain’s standard 12yr and 18yr for years, and aside from the very high ABV setting this apart, I’d say the CS release (at least this 2023 edition, the third such batch from Bunnahabhain so far) is offering a profile somewhere between the other two, with a brightness that ties it to its age, but a significant Oloroso sherry component more reminiscent of the older core release. There are also notes suggesting PX maturation, like the chocolates and raisins, arriving in tandem with the more typical Oloroso notes. It’s not clear how much of this is bourbon-matured, but the sherried element is definitely driving the bus here. This bottle also got significantly better as it opened up over time, relaxing into a lovely, dessert-y experience driven by fruit and chocolate.
I really like Bunnahabhain’s distillery profile in general, though I find that sometimes their core releases struggle to get any meaningful distance from the standard 12yr, simply because the 12yr is such a solidly good, reliable baseline of a whisky. The CS 12yr is improving upon that—maybe not quite as much as the 18yr does with its added age, but then again, at least when I bought this, it was much, much closer in price to the younger release. As long as it’s not too much more expensive, I think it’s definitely worthwhile to explore this for the intensity of flavor it offers.
Final Score: 86.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 