Bunnahabhain An Cladach

Yet another Bunnahabhain Unpronounceable bottling: An Cladach, which translates as “The Shore” in Gaelic. This bottle is a travel retail exclusive that’s sold in 1 Liter size and is bottled at a robust 50% ABV. It’s light/amber gold and oily with runny legs in the taster. The nose is salty if you go in immediately after the pour. I had to wait this one out to get the subdued sherry notes, along with toffee and raisins. A lighter, chocolate and coffee grounds note formed the background noise here- with almost no perceptible barrel wood. The high ABV is also very well hidden. The palate hits hard with youthful spirit and a slight oaky harshness. The ABV sets the tone, but also seems to evaporate away and leave behind the perfect balance of sherry, roasted nuts and salty sea air. There’s a nice, briny note that you don’t often see with Bunna. It took me by a bit of a surprise, even though the name is telling me to be on the lookout. The light, milk chocolate also masks the tougher back end just enough to keep things in check. The finish is medium, and slightly on the weaker side- with the typical suspects playing a closing role: sherry sweetness, peppery oak and some red berries and cream. The extra oomph from the ABV causes everything to dry up rather quickly, but damn it’s still enjoyable. Overall, at $66 for a 1L bottle I have to say this is a really good deal. It’s another winning NAS formula from Bunnahabhain and I gotta point out that most of these crazy-named releases are really hitting the mark. Whatever they lack in smoothness and complexity they make up for in value and experimentation. This one is no different. I’m giving it 3.75 solid stars and a recommended “buy”. Cheers.

Bunnahabhain is always a good single malt to enjoy. It doesn't matter which expression you are having, you are mostly going to find yourself in a "salty chocolate" journey from this usually unpeated whisky. An Cladach is a travel retail expression that means "Coastal shore" in gaelic. It has been matured in sherry casks. Bottled at 50%abv. On the nose, it starts with hazelnut, figs and burnt hay. Dry cherries, chocolate tablet. Macadamia. It has released a humid note: it is like a bodega, or an old closet. Cigar box and raisinets (chocolate bathed raisins). On the palate, it is delicious. The Bunnahabhain chocolate is here; raisins, salt. Almonds, pepper. The second sip gave me vanilla, barbecue salt and olive oil. Aftertaste was a little short and simple, butbit works. Pepper, salt and earthy notes. It seems that for a very sweet dram, this shorter finish is proper to handle easily the 50%abv, specially for a travel retail expression, intended for whisky enthusiasts, but also for not very experienced drinkers. Overall, this was a lovely single malt, that can get you a fair amount of nice sweet notes and a beautiful experience; but also it seems to be a step behind from other more complex expressions. Having said that, i really liked this one, my score for it is 87 over 100.

Nose - Very sweet & fruity, hint of syrupy golden raisins, hint of elderflower, sweet nuts, juicy red berries, hint of bitter dark chocolate. Taste - Sweet nutty/syrupy sherry, white pepper heat/spice/tingle, light metallic taste, sweet nuts, honey, sweet white grape juice, hint of ginger, light salt. Finish - Lingering white pepper spice, faint dry tannic bitterness, light metallic lingers, metallic white grape juice sweet, hazelnut/almond skin, metallic salt. Score - 84/100 Final Thoughts - This is a bit tough. It has a pretty good nose in that you really get a nice fruity/nutty nose on it which does follow through to the palate, but then you're suddenly hit by this odd metallic taste. Like it somehow got stored in a reactive metal tank or something. Kind of hard to describe, but it's similar to that of a metallic taste in some salts. Regardless, it's quite tasty albeit I'm sure pretty young. I think if it was aged a bit longer to somehow mellow out or get rid of the metallic notes somehow, it'd be a lot better. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - If it stays around the same price yes.

Nose- very slight peat. Apricot and almond. Sweetness from the sherry. Palate- Sweet, almost juicy notes of stone fruit from the sherry cask. Slightly salty to balance the sweetness. Clove and baking spice. Finish- Spicy finish with more spice notes. Pear and other slight fruit flavor. Overall- A balanced whiskey with sweet and spicy notes. Light bodied with notes of sweet sherry. The sherry is present at first with the spicy finish. A good easy drinking whiskey.

Not a review! Also not a bad drop... at all! Can’t quite understand the super low score this whisky got from the oficial review. Maybe he just got a bad/sulphured batch, maybe our palate is just too ordinary... Who knows?! Everything I know is this whisky may be a bit young (as the nose suggest), but it is good, with lots of Sherry goodness and an amazing value! Glad that I got over the bad score and bought it anyway.

Sea salt & minerals, toasted almonds, prunes, raisins, clove, thin english custard, biscoff, some graininess, nutty, toffee, cocoa, lemon curd. Much stronger sherry influence than the standard which I believe is bourbon cask only, but I think it loses a little with NAS. Still, its vibrant and you cant beat the cost especially considering it's a liter and 100 proof.