Bunnahabhain 19 Years Old Mòine (Fèis Ìle 2024)

Fèis Ìle is the annual Islay Festival of Music and Malt, held each May and June across the island's distilleries. Each Islay producer takes one day of the festival as their own, and most release a special bottling for sale that day exclusively to festival attendees. Bunnahabhain's 2024 day release was a 19 year old Mòine matured fully in ex-bourbon casks, bottled at 51.2% natural cask strength.

Mòine, the Scots Gaelic for peat, is the distillery's name for its heavily peated production. The 19 year age is notable: most Mòine releases sit in the 8-15 year range, so this is at the older end of what the distillery has bottled from its peated stocks. Long maturation on heavily peated spirit changes the smoke profile considerably; younger Mòine leads with sharp campfire phenols, while well-aged Mòine softens into earthier, more mellow smoke with the wood character coming forward.

Full maturation in ex-bourbon casks rather than the distillery's house Oloroso programme is a deliberate choice for showcasing the distillate. American oak ex-bourbon delivers vanilla, coconut and toasted-corn lactones that sit alongside peat smoke without competing with it; sherry maturation on heavily peated stock can produce a busier, more layered bottle, while bourbon-cask maturation gives the smoke clean room. Expect mature smoke, polished oak, vanilla-cream sweetness and the maritime salinity that the Sound-side warehouses lend across decades. Festival exclusive, natural colour, non-chill-filtered.