Bunnahabhain 1989-2012 - 22 Year Old - Bladnoch Forum - Single Cask 5662

Bunnahabhain was founded in 1881, the same year as the other traditionally unpeated Islay whisky, Bruichladdich. Bunnahabhain was owned by Highland Distillers for over a century; when Edrington took full control in 1999 the distillery was mothballed, and in 2003 Bunnahabhain was sold to Burn Stewart Distillers. Distell International bought Burn Stewart in 2013 after previous owners CL Financial went bust.

Highland Distillers bottled Bunnahabhain’s unpeated Islay malt whisky as a 12-year-old from the 1970s onwards. Burn Stewart added older expressions to the core range and now release many single casks and limited editions, some of which use peated Bunnahabhain, which has been produced since the late 1990s. In 2010 the bottling strength of Bunnahabhain’s whiskies was increased to 46.3% and colouring and chill filtration were discontinued; sales increased by 160% over the next ten years. Independent bottlings of both unpeated and peated Bunnahabhain are easy to find and generally high quality.

The Bladnoch Forum was an online discussion group set up in 2001 by former distillery owner Raymond Armstrong for friends and fans of the Bladnoch distillery. Under the terms of his agreement with Diageo to recommence distillation Armstrong was allowed to produce only 100,000 litres of Bladnoch spirit per annum; with the Forum gaining traction among whisky fans, in 2005 Armstrong decided to start bottling and selling whiskies to his loyal members.

Over 100 single cask whiskies were released by Bladnoch Forum between 2005-2012, many of which were of outstanding quality. In the early 2000s Armstrong was quoted as saying that no whisky was worth more than £50, and the Bladnoch Forum bottlings were exceptional value for drinkers. The superb long-aged Invergordon grains and the fantastic 1980s vintages of Caol Ila and Port Ellen are still highly sought after at auction.