Bunnahabhain 9 Years Old 2014 (Daily Dram)

The Nectar is the Belgian importer and independent bottler founded by Bert Bruyneel in the early 2000s, operating a broad bottling programme alongside its Belgium and Netherlands distribution business. The Daily Drams series sits as one of the bottler's higher-volume single-cask lines, with releases drawn from across Scotland and bottled at natural strength. This 9 year old comes from heavily peated Staoisha Bunnahabhain spirit distilled in 2014 and bottled in 2024 at 57.6%.

Staoisha is the name carried on the independent market for Bunnahabhain's heavily peated production; the distillery calls the same spirit Mòine in its own bottlings. Peated malt at Bunnahabhain runs at 35-38 ppm phenols, against the 2 ppm baseline of the unpeated house style. The same tall pot stills with their long swan necks produce both styles, which gives the Staoisha distillate a softer, more refined smoke profile than the campfire-and-iodine south-coast Islay reference points.

At nine years in a refill cask, the spirit-led profile dominates: smoke is the protagonist, with the wood supplying support rather than driving flavour. Reviewer notes for the bottling describe charcoal, mineral spring-water and berries on the nose, with seaweed, smoked meats and salted char on the palate. The Bunnahabhain underlying maritime salinity reads twice over against the heavy peat, producing a salt-tinged smoke profile that's distinctive across the Islay landscape. Single cask, natural colour, non-chill-filtered.