Throughout the end of May and the beginning of June, thousands of whisky lovers descended on the inner Hebridean island of Islay off the west coast of Scotland. Hosting nine world class whisky distilleries across 240 square miles (ten if you count the neighboring island of Jura), the island hosts one of the world’s most impressive whisky festivals, the Fèis Ìle (pronounced ‘feish eel’), showcasing everything Islay has to offer.
Whisky tastings, masterclasses, and plenty of free pours abound throughout the nine-day long festival. Most coveted of all, however, are the bottles of whisky released by each Islay distillery celebrating the Feis, and their value on the secondary market rapidly increases once they’ve been released.
This year, the festival’s 34th iteration, the demand for Fèis bottles was the hottest it’s ever been. More hours-long lines formed to get ahold of them, and at the Bowmore and Bunnahabhain distilleries many people camped out overnight to be the first to buy bottles once the distilleries opened their doors.
Returning and now recovered from over a week of drinking top quality whisky, I managed to taste most of the releases commemorating the Fèis (and almost all from the distilleries themselves).
So here’s a review roundup for the bunch, listed in alphabetical order, spread out over two posts (there’s a lot of bottles). I should note that to me this was the best crop of Feis Ile whiskies in quite a few years, with many festival veterans agreeing with me.
Here’s a guide to my scoring system. I grade whiskies out of 10 to the nearest half-point:
0-4 – Avoid this bottle
5/5.5 – Barely passable
6/6.5 – Decent enough, not really for me, but you might like it.
7/7.5 – Good
8/8.5 – Extremely good
9-10 – Absolutely superb
Ardbeg – Drum, £97.95 ($125)
Description: One of the easier Fèis releases to get your hands on, Drum is matured in ex-bourbon casks and then finished in rum casks.
Nose: Pineapples, bananas, vanilla, and that lovely earthy Ardbeg smoke. However, there is also a model glue rawness that I’m not sure I like.
Taste: Soft, the tropical fruits are there but there’s more maltiness present. I’ll never get tired of the finish on any Ardbeg, but the glue is still there…
Overall: Not unpleasant but still too raw for my liking. 6
Ardnahoe – Hunter Laing Scarabus Islay Single Malt, £38 ($48)
Description: Soon available worldwide, the budget-friendly Scarabus is the stand-in single malt for Islay’s new Ardnahoe distillery while its whisky still ages.
Nose: A clumsy but loveable mix of caramel, raw sharpness, and ham.
Taste: A lot more going on than I thought based on the nose. A vanilla cream concoction with hints of orange blossom, smoked ham, topped off with a malty finish.
Overall: A pleasant surprise, and excellent for the price. 7.5
Bowmore – 15 Year Old Fèis Ìle Collection 2019, £85 ($110)
Description: The cheaper of the two official Bowmore Fèis bottlings consisting of 3000 bottles sourced from first fill Bourbon casks.
Nose: It’s like combining Perfume 101 with a malting floor. Jasmine, orange blossom, and citrus, along with bergamot and toasted barley.
Taste: Enjoyed the layers here. Citrus descends into flowery elements which then turns into maltiness and then ends with soft but robust smoke.
Overall: Perfumed, malty, and meaty. Delightful. 8
Bruichladdich – Octomore Event Horizon 12 Year Old, £175 ($225)
Description: An older Octomore (a series of whiskies known for being extremely peated), aged in sherry-seasoned casks.
Nose: This is one earthy pipe tobacco nose, but the overwhelming smoke isn’t blocking prunes, roasted peanuts, and a certain swimming pool mineral quality from coming through.
Taste: A clunky monster in a glass. As smoky as it gets in whisky. It’s also salty, bitter, leathery and dry. Yet a sweet fruity ray of hope comes to the rescue in the form of grapes and strawberries just when you think all is lost.
Overall: If you drink this you’re cruising for a bruising. 8
Bunnahabhain – Fèis Ìle Moine 2008 French Oak Finish, £95 ($120)
Description: A peated Bunnahabhain, finished in virgin French oak for 5 months.
Nose: Citrus, oak, and hay. A warm dry horse stable on a summer’s day.
Taste: If I were told this was a Cognac I’d fall for it. It’s almost too woody but doesn’t go too far, because there’s space for bananas, hazelnuts, pine freshener to come through alongside a gloriously creamy texture.
Overall: Oh la la, that virgin French oak adds a lot here. 8.5
Bunnahabhain – Fèis Ìle 2001 Sauternes Cask Finish, £195 ($250)
Description: 18 year old whisky that started in bourbon casks for 13 years and then was moved into 3 Sauternes cask for 5 years.
Nose: Oh no! Burnt match sulfur on the nose. I hate sulfur. There’s some fruit and rich complexity in there but it doesn’t matter because I’m probably not going to enjoy this.
Taste: I do not enjoy this one bit. Working past the sulfur, there’s some oak, leather, and hay-like herbal notes but thumbs down from me.
Overall: My lowest score for a whisky yet since I started doing reviews on here. I haven’t come across a sulfur bomb in a while. Some people do like that taste though. 4
Bunnahabhain – 1988 Champagne Cask Finish, £450 ($575)
Description: Whisky geeks camped out overnight to get ahold of one of 120 bottles of liquid that was finished in ‘Champagne’ casks. Bunnahabhain got slapped on the wrist by the Scotch Whisky Association because technically this was these casks held white wine that afterwards was turned into Champagne.
Nose: Toffee apples is the first thing that comes to mind, but there’s also strong citrus and that mix of vanilla and coconut that comes from Scottish gorse.
Taste: This is like the Glen Moray Chardonnay Matured (which is amazing) in beast mode. Green apples, lemon tart, goopy caramel, this is a candied fruit wonderland with a finish to match.
Overall: All labelling sins are forgiven. 9
Caol Ila – Fèis Ìle 2019 22 Year Old, £130 ($165)
Description: A 3000-bottle release of older Caol Ila that comes from sherry-seasoned casks. It’s nice to see better labelling when concerning sherry maturation on bottles.
Nose: A whirlpool of cherries, walnuts, maple syrup, and peat.
Taste: Chamomile tea and caramel, with a teriyaki smoke finish. Tannic, salty, and just the right amount of meat. Caol Ila at its finest. Complex, dignified, with just a bit of earthy grit.
Overall: Last year’s Caol Ila was great. This year’s is phenomenal. 8.5
Tomorrow I’ll cover Laphroaig, Bowmore, Kilchoman, and more.
Though some of these are hard to get ahold of, many are available on the special Whisky Auctioneer Feis Ile auction, that might be your best bet beyond what some specialist retailers might be stocking, but be aware that prices can double, triple, or go even higher than what I’ve quoted above!
