For the first full week of June, I’ll do a trio of sherry-bothered Bunnahabhains. First up is last year’s Feis Ile release, named the Abhainn Araig. This is a mix of spirit matured in bourbon casks (presumably regulation hogsheads or barrels) and spirit matured in smaller PX sherry octave casks (presumably seasoned with PX). I believe this went for just short of £100 at Feis Ile. It is currently available from a few US retailers for just short of $200. But is it any good? Let’s see.

Bunnahabhain Abhainn Araig, Feis Ile 2022 (50.8%; bourbon + PX octave casks; from a bottle split)

Nose: A sour start with orange and lemon, aspirin and oak. Even more acidic on the second sniff with the orange turning a bit fizzy, like a tart orange soda. With time it gets bready/yeasty and more than a little gingery. Less acidic with a few drops of water; there’s a hint of apricot now.

Palate: Not as sour on the palate and not particularly oaky. Also, not particularly interesting. Quite approachable at full strength with decent texture. The oak shows up on the second sip but is neither tannic nor raw (which is what I’d feared from the whiff of it on the nose). Develops as on the nose, with yeast; and the powdered ginger from the finish pops out earlier. Okay, let’s see if water does anything for it. As on the nose, it pushes the acid back, and here it also pushes the oak back a bit. Still not very interesting though.

Finish: Long. The tart citrus keeps going and going with that aspirin/mineral note from the nose showing up as well; powdered ginger and pepper at the end. As on the palate with water.

Comments: I read through a bunch of the reviews on Whiskybase after taking my own notes and couldn’t really recognize my experience of this whisky in most of them: very few mark the sourness and many list rich notes that I would have loved to have found. Anyway, this is young and spirity and not what I would expect from any sort of PX-bothered whisky; seems more like a fino or manzanilla cask finish. Not an undrinkable whisky—and better with water—but not special in the slightest. I would have been pissed if I’d paid big money for this at Feis Ile (or anywhere else). I hope they did better this year.

Rating: 80 points. (Pulled up by water.)