Bunnahabhain Eirigh Na Greine

Bunnahabhain Eirigh Na Greine is the travel retail replacement for Darach Ur. The name means ‘morning sky’ in Gaelic.

Eirigh Na Greine contains a significant proportion of whiskies matured in Italian and French red wine casks. The whiskies were of various ages so the end result is another NAS expression.

Bunnahabhain Eirigh Na Greine (46,3%, OB 2014, travel retail)

Nose: a sharp, grainy onset, quickly rounded off by a toffee and raisin / raspberry / red berry sweetness. Not unlike some PX finishes, which I generally like better than red wine finishes. Fragrant and candied. Almonds, ginger, cinnamon rolls. Plenty of vanilla too. A slight salty edge.

Mouth: a lot of spices and plain oak, making it sharp and rather dry. Punchy pepper, ginger, cloves, hints of wood bitterness as well, even though there’s still a wave of boiled (red) sweets underneath. Maybe too winey (as opposed to sherried, I mean) after all. Mulled wine?

Finish: medium long, gingery and salty. Raspberries with a raw edge, that pretty much sums it all up.

I tend to advice people to be careful with travel retail exclusives. They’re rarely the highlights of what distilleries have on offer. Around € 70.

Score: 76/100