Bunnahabhain 5 Years Old 2018 (Claxton’s)

Claxton's was set up in Yorkshire by brothers Brian and Ross Claxton, building an independent bottling house focused on single-cask releases drawn from across Scottish distilleries. The Exploration Series carries casks at the younger end of the bottler's catalogue, presenting them at a consistent 50% bottling strength rather than the natural cask strength treatment given to the bottler's higher-tier ranges. This Bunnahabhain comes from spirit distilled in 2018 and bottled in 2024 after five years of Oloroso maturation.

Five years is the lower edge of meaningful sherry maturation for Bunnahabhain. The new-make spirit at this distillery carries cooked cereal and fresh pear character that needs time in the cask to develop into the integrated profile that longer-aged Bunnahabhain shows. Five years in Oloroso brings the wood character forward against the still-young spirit: the nutty fig markers from the cask sit on a more spirit-led base than they would on a fifteen-year-old.

The 50% bottling sits below natural cask strength after a small drop of water, which is the Exploration Series house presentation. That preserves enough body to read the Bunnahabhain coastal signature underneath the cask: the oily texture, the lightly maritime brine, the underlying Margadale Burn mineral character that comes through across the distillery's stock at any age. Natural colour, non-chill-filtered, single cask.