Scotch Whisky Review #343: Lonach Bunnahabhain 25 Year (1989)

Image Credit: /u/slaserj, their review can be found here.

Distillery: Bunnahabhain.

Bottler: Duncan Taylor.

Region: Islay.

Age: 25 Year. Distilled in 1989. Bottled in 2015.

ABV: 46.0%.

Color: 1.0, Deep Copper.

This is the 8th installment of this years’ Christmas Countdown. You can see the 2020 edition here and 2019 edition here.

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Nose: The main note here is of sharp green apple flavored candies. Green apple Jolly Ranchers and Life Savers come to mind. Sour green apple Warheads do as well. There’s a little bit of citrus to go along with the hard candy bonanza.

Palate: Quite pleasant from the first sip. A hint of smoke and a hint of sea air come through along with a lot of malt. Some fruitier notes follow towards the back half in the form of green apples and lemons.

Finish: Medium in length. It has an incredibly clean aftertaste with some green apples and a bit of traditional medicine.

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Conclusion: 25 year old Bunnahabhain? Oh that sounds like a delight. The nose writes a lot of checks that the rest of the dram can’t cash though. There is a nice medley of apple flavored hard candies and some citrus on the nose that does have a bit of depth in character. The palate, however, is quite simplistic. It’s surprisingly malt forward for its age with only hints of things like sea air and fruits to keep it from being too boring. That doesn’t mean it isn’t tasty, just simply not as good as I would have hoped.

Final Score: 80.

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Scotch Whisky Review #343, Islay Review #54, Whisky Network Review #493

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.