BUNNAHABHAIN Abhainn Araig Feis Ile 2022
BUNNAHABHAIN Abhainn Araig Feis Ile 2022 is an austere piece of Victorian architecture on the north-east coast of Islay, Bunnahabhain is a relative outsider on the island, traditionally known for producing an un-peated single malt. The majority of this was used for blending, as was its initial intended purpose. The distillery was shut for 2 years in 1982 following the market downturn of the period, and despite being revived at low production, it was eventually officially bottled as a single malt later that decade, with the self-deprecating tag-line, “the un-pronounceable malt.
This whisky was matured in Bourbon and Pedro Ximenez octave sherry casks.
Fèis Ìle, also known as the Islay Festival of Music and Malt had humble beginnings. It traces it origins back to 1985 and the establishment of The Islay Festival Association after it was realized that an event celebrating Gaelic, music and culture would drive tourism to the island. The inaugural event was two weeks of music, drama, and workshops with ceilidhs, concerts, and dances in the evening. The first whisky tasting took place as a festival event in 1990, and ten years later the island’s distilleries began to be directly involved, organizing their annual open days to coincide with it. Today it is one of the biggest events on the whisky calendar, annually drawing hundreds of revelers, and turning out an increasingly sought-after batch of limited edition whiskies like this.
