A Scot on Scotch

WHISKY REVIEWS, NEWS, HISTORY & FOLKLORE

An auld, new acquaintance

Any time I sit down to sip on an older whisky, I wonder what I might have been doing when it was distilled. The Bunnahabhain sample at the heart of this review was produced in Islay on the 1st of December 1988. I would have been 8 years old and was no doubt excitedly waiting for another Christmas to roll around. I wonder what I got. It was probably something to do with Action Force (G.I. Joe to American readers).

This was 1988. When Margaret Thatcher became the longest-serving UK Prime Minister of the 20th century. When the war between Afghanistan and the Soviets ended after 8 years. When Beetlejuice, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker were in the cinema. When Kylie Minogue left Neighbours. When boxer Mike Tyson retained his heavyweight crown by knocking out Michael Spinks in just 91 seconds. When Glasgow Rangers won the first league title in their 9-in-a-row run.

On the 1st of December 1988, when this spirit was being distilled, the first internationally recognised World AIDS Day was taking place. In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was named the first female president. In the UK pop charts, Cliff Richard was at number one with his (seemingly immortal) festive hit, Mistletoe and Wine.

In whisky, Inver House bought the mothballed Knockdhu distillery. New visitor centres were opened at Blair Athol, Cardhu and Royal Lochnagar, part of a £3 million investment in tourism by United Distillers. Stewart & Son gained a major interest in Glencadam. The old Millburn Distillery in Inverness was demolished. Allied Distillers closed its Teacher’s blending and bottling plant in Springburn with the loss of 255 jobs.

At Bunnahabhain, things were a bit more positive. The Islay distillery was owned by Highland Distillers Ltd at the time and Distillery Manager, Jim Lottie, was quoted in The Oban Times Thursday 3 November 1988: “At present, we are at our highest production level since the disastrous whisky slump in 1982 when we were reduced to only seven employees. Today we have 13 full-time employees who regularly work overtime to cope with the growing demand.”

Sometimes we don’t fully appreciate the age of a whisky. We know 30 is a big number to have on a label but it’s not until we dwell on the passage of time in our own lives and indeed the wider world that the weight of those long years sinks in. We are tasting a whisky that was made in another world. Liquid history.

*Full disclosure: the whisky featured in this article was included in an advent calendar sent to me for free. As always, I will strive to give an honest opinion on the quality of the dram and the value for money it represents.

Bunnahabhain New Acquaintance Review

Bunnahabhain’s New Acquaintance was distilled in 1988 and bottled in 2019. It was aged for three decades in French oak casks. 400 bottles were released at 45%.

Tasting notes: An old and dignified nose. It’s deep and it’s dark. There are lots of woody spice and dank dunnage warehouses. You can quite easily close your eyes and imagine yourself among the casks of Warehouse 9. There are notes of leather, old books and polished furniture. Glace cherries. Manuka honey, currants and milk chocolate. On the palate: Oak. Lots and lots of oak. The spirit itself has a slightly delicate feel – which can happen at this age – but the vastness of the oak still makes it feel like a big old dram. There are currants, sultanas, cloves and gingerbread. Burnt sugar. Cocoa beans.

Thoughts: Oak and spice is very much the order of the day here. The cask is so dominant that I was tempted to open it up with a splash of water but you have to be careful with old whiskies. They tend to drown easily. In fairness, the oak isn’t unpleasant, the sheer depth of it is quite satisfying and you feel like you’re really tasting all those years in cask but I think I want a bit more from this kind of dram. I eventually built up the courage to introduce some water but it didn’t make a lot of difference. I have to admit, I’m a wee bit disappointed.

As a side note: I tasted the dram again after a bit of Galaxy Chocolate and the combination of flavours was superb.

Price: I wasn’t able to track down the original RRP for this release but it’ll cost you anything between £400 and £1200 on the secondary market. Perhaps a worthy acquisition for a particularly wealthy termite but for those who don’t enjoy munching through solid oak, it’s a luxury probably best left on the shelf.

For more on Bunnahabhain visit here

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