Bunnahabhain 11 Years Old 2013 (Phil & Simon Thompson)

Phil and Simon Thompson run their independent bottling label alongside operating Dornoch and Struie distilleries in the Highlands. The bottling work is built around long-fermentation and unusual-cask stock from across Scotland, with releases marked by transparent labelling and a willingness to bottle at natural strength regardless of how low the ABV has dropped. This 11 year old Bunnahabhain comes from spirit distilled in 2013 and bottled in 2025 at 56.1%.

The maturation is in Oloroso sherry, the dominant cask style in Bunnahabhain's house programme and consistently the strongest pairing for the distillery's oily, lightly maritime distillate. At eleven years, the cask has had time to deliver classic Oloroso character: nutty walnut, dried fig, leather, toasted oak. The cask hasn't entered the heavier syrup territory that very long sherry maturations sometimes produce. The spirit-character window is open: distillate and cask are talking to each other rather than one side dominating.

The Thompsons are particularly attuned to the Bunnahabhain house style after years of bottling the distillery's stock; their selections tend to lean towards casks where the spirit and wood balance has settled into something integrated rather than cask-led. Expect oiliness, a touch of Margadale Burn salinity, and the Oloroso markers reading clean against the spirit. Natural colour, non-chill-filtered.