Bunnahabhain 
Bunnahabhain, like many Islay distilleries, is located on the coast. Bunnahabhain is on the Sound of Islay, a narrow strait between Islay and Jura. It has an annual production of 3,300,000ℓ of spirit of which 800,000ℓ is peated.
Malted barley arrives by road (4 miles of single track) from Simpson's on the mainland and about 27 tons are used each day for the three mashes. The barley is ground to form grist in a proportion of 20/70/10 husk, grits and flour. The wort from two mashes comprises about 70,000ℓ and this is fermented together with 437kg of yeast over a period of 52-56 hours to create an 8% ABV wash. The wash is distilled in one of the two 35386ℓ wash stills to give a liquor (low wines) of about 25% ABV. The spirit is collected and transferred to one of the two 15546ℓ spirit stills. The first alcohol to come off the spirit still (fore-shots) is too high in alcohol but is kept for later redistillation. The main body of the run is kept until the alcohol content drops below 69% ABV. The remaining alcohol continues to comes off and is added to the fore-shots.
The considerable amount of residue from the wash still (pot ale) contains mostly water, dead yeast and some husk material. The residue from the spirit still (spent lees) is a cloudy, oily liquid comprising mostly water. The pot ale can be spread on land as a fertiliser, diluted and discharged to sea or evaporated to pot ale syrup as a cattle food. Spent lees have little value and are discharged to sea. As both these leave the stills at high temperature, they are first passed through a heat exchanger that pre-heats the wash for the next run.
The used barley (draff) is typically sold or given to farmers as a cattle food, although at Bunnahabhain 50% is sent to the new bio-mass plant just up the hill. This uses draff in combination with imported wood-chip to generate steam for the stills.
Feis Ile Releases
There are three releases for the Feis Ile as follows:
Canasta
An unpeated whisky with no age statement matured in Canasta casks and bottled at 51.2%.
Canasta is a cream sherry usually made
by blending dry Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez. For this release the Canasta was a blend of Palomino and Oloroso sherries. £95.
This whisky has been fully matured in rare William and Humbert Canasta sherry casks. These casks once held a blend of Oloroso (75%) and Pedro Ximenez (25%) sherries. Using these Canasta casks to mature our whisky has given us the best of both worlds with layers of flavour; Oloroso sherry is spicy, whereas the Pedro Ximenez is a lot sweeter.
- Colour - Polished Mahogany
- Nose - Classic sherried nose; sweet and caramelised fruits, honey roasted nuts, waves of cinnamon and clove with a hint of rancio
- Palate - Maple syrup leads with creamy vanilla, dried figs, poached pears and a sprinkle of cocoa. A gentle twist of orange appears in the background
- Finish - Long and sweet with notes of brown sugar, red apples and vanilla custard
Moine
This cask strength (52.6%)Distillery Exclusive Fèis Ìle whisky is truly something special. A marriage of three peated drams including an
Oloroso Finish, Bourbon Matured and Rum Finish, it has flavours reminiscent of rum and raisin ice cream, our Master Blender,
Julieann Fernandez's, favourite! £225 and a limited bottling of 1740.
The first was distilled on the 2nd of February 2004 and lay in American Oak casks before being transferred to first-fill Oloroso sherry hogsheads on the 22nd of July 2013 to finish. The second was distilled on the 10th of November 2004 and fully matured in ex-bourbon barrels. The final whisky was distilled on the 16th of February and filled in American Oak casks before being transferred to finish in the finest rum barrels on the 7th of December 2017. Three unique craft types were skilfully blended to produce this delicious limited dram with a character reminiscent of rum and raisin ice cream. There is no added colour and it's non-chillfiltered. Limited edition of 1740 bottles.
- Colour - Golden
- Nose - Perfumed smoke with violet flowers, barbequed pineapple, salted raisins and fresh vanilla pods
- Palate - Rippling notes of smoke with double cream, raisins, crispy burnt sugar, ripe bananas and a twist of tropical fruit
- Finish - A rich finish with notes of smoky panna cotta
Manzanilla
This 1998 cask strength (52.3%) Limited Edition has been finished in Manzanilla sherry casks to create a warmly welcoming dram, with notes
of salt and spice. £450.
- Colour - Chestnut
- Nose - Notes of freshly baked pastry with sweet almonds, rose petals, grapefruit and dried spices are balanced with a touch of mahogany and incense
- Palate - Coastal influence of seaweed and fresh sea air are met with raisins and dates and intertwined with creamy fudge, waxed red apples and a warm sweet spice reminiscent of star anise
- Finish - Spicy and aromatic with caramelised walnuts; the star anise fades to reveal lemon peel and pears with a lingering note of sea salt
Tours
During the Feis I attended the following sessions:
- 26-May-2023 production tour
- 26-May-2023 Warehouse No 9 tasting hosted by David
- Distilled in 2006 and spent its life in Gonzalez Byass Manzanilla El Rocio casks. Casked at 58.6% but now 56%
- Distilled in 2009 and matured in an unknown red wine cask. 57.7%
- Matured for 10 years in sherry refill cask and transferred three years ago to Amarone. 61%.
- Distilled in 2004 and matured in Bourbon refill casks for ten years and then moved to Oloroso hogshead for three years. Peated to 40ppm and 53.9%
- 02-Jun-2023 Masterclass hosted by distillery manager Andrew Brown and blender Julie-Ann Fernandez. The tasting session covered
- 12-year old from the core range
- Feis Ile Canasta
- Feis Ile Moine
- Feis Ile Manzanilla
- 2013 Banyuls 54.2%. Banyuls is an area in France, close the to the Spanish border and on the Mediterranean coast. This spirit was distilled in May 2013 and matured in Bourbon refill casks. It was transferred to Banyuls casks in June 2018. There were 1189 bottles. Banyuls wine is a fortified red wine, similar in some respects to port
- 02-Jun-2023 production tour hosted by Katie
- 02-Jun-2023 warehouse walk hosted by assistant distillery manager Torin - a special tour only held on the festival day where we walked through a warehouse that's usually not open to the public and then tasted three whiskies:
- 18-year old from the core range
- Warehouse No 9 exclusive 2014 Oloroso butt, bottle 925
- Warehouse No 9 exclusive 2003 Moine rum finish at 63.3%
Purchases
