Bunnahabhain Distillery, Islay: The Gentle One

Overview

Bunnahabhain (boon-a-HAV-en, “the mouth of the river”) sits at the end of a long single-track road on Islay’s remote north-east coast, looking across to the Paps of Jura. It is the gentle exception among Islay malts: its flagship whisky is mostly unpeated — nutty, lightly sherried and maritime — a world away from the smoke of the south coast, though it does make peated batches too.

The history

Bunnahabhain was built in 1881 by the Islay Distillery Company (Robertson & Baxter with the Greenlees brothers), and a small village was raised alongside it to house the workers in what was then a very isolated spot. For most of its life its whisky went into blends — it was a mainstay of the Famous Grouse and Black Bottle — and it has only more recently built a reputation as a single malt. It is now owned by Distell, part of the Heineken group.

The water & the land

Unusually for Islay, Bunnahabhain’s water is piped underground from the Margadale Spring so that it arrives hard and clear rather than peaty — which, together with lightly-peated malt, is exactly why the standard whisky is so soft and un-smoky by island standards.

Like the other late-Victorian Islay distilleries, Bunnahabhain has no clan founding — it was a commercial blending venture, and its little community was purpose-built. It stands, though, on the same island that was the ancient heartland of Clan Donald and the Lords of the Isles before passing to the Campbell lairds.

Visiting

Bunnahabhain has a visitor centre (rebuilt and reopened in 2021) and runs tours and tastings — book ahead. It opens daily in season with reduced winter hours; check the website. The long drive out to it, along the coast past Caol Ila, is part of the experience — and the view across to Jura from the shore is superb.

Nearby & more whisky

• Its southern neighbour: Caol Ila
• The newest on this coast: Ardnahoe
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all

Sources

• Bunnahabhain distillery — Wikipedia.
• Bunnahabhain / Distell; Scotchwhisky.com Whiskypedia.