50°
Distillery ; Bunnahabhain - Islay
Bourbon and Sherry Casks
Oriiginal Bottling
Travel Retail Edition
Single Malt
Launched in 2010
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured,
Peated around 40 ppm
The first Batch of Cruach-Mhòna landed in 2010. Although launched as a travel edition, it can still be found just about everywhere. It's supposed to combine a few young whiskies with some old ones aged in sherry casks, the whole more peated than usual. Bunnahabhain peats its juices at around 35 ppm according to custom, but here it's more like 40. Batch 2 soon followed the first, until Batch 11 in 2017. Then the people in charge decided that it would be ridiculous to go up to seventy-two, so the only mention would be Limited Edition Release. Cruach-Mhòna means 'pile of peat' in Gaelic.
Let's Taste It :
Quite sweet on the nose, with fine granitic peat. Appetizing bourbon influence. Barley sugar, white plum, banana. Bewitching smoke. Thick tar. Biscuit, genoise. It becomes medicinal at the end. Slightly vanilla-flavoured on the palate, gently full-bodied, then spices, ginger, cloves and cumin. Ounce of bitterness. Relatively powerful finish, quite long, on cola and charcoal. Some remnants of vanilla in retro-olfaction. Liquorice stick. Light coffee.
In Short,
I liked it, the peat isn't overpowering, with a nice fruity, greedy balance. Without being really complex, it's pleasant and round. It's better than the Moine, but not as good as the Toiteach a Dhà in my humble opinion. It can be found at a very reasonable price, so why not give it a try? Provided you're an enthusiast, of course.
Score : 86
To Be Listened While Sipping :
Muddy Waters - Long Distance Calls
No comments:
Post a Comment