Things have got out of hand here at Malted HQ.

I have found a pack of samples I have had for nearly 3 years and indeed completely forgot I had.

Feis Ile 2021 was the festival that never existed but did happen. The Covid years meant most commercial operations had to find new ways to work to stay alive and the Islay festival was no different. If you ever needed proof that the festival operation was valuable for a community and their distilleries then posting out samples of festival bottles to continue selling bottles during a lockdown was it.

The first one in the trio was the 2021 batch version of the 12 year old. I have written about the 12 already though which you can check out at: Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old.

The first special edition was the 2001 vintage Marsala Cask finished bottled at Cask Strength. Finished for over 4 years in casks previously holding Marsala wine you will see this often that when you “finish” older whiskies in a new cask you have to give them time to marry and integrate. If you just flash fry them you don’t actually see much benefit. Conversely, if you take younger casks though you do want to flash them with a new cask otherwise you will end up over finishing.

COLOUR

Toasted oak

NOSE

Dried fruit, honey and Morello cherries, with hints of red grapes, walnuts, liquorice and tobacco

PALATE

Sweetly dry flavours of stone fruits, red apple, vanilla, honey and cloves, with a touch of oak and roasted nuts

FINISH

Dry and short, with subtle hints of tobacco, leather and spice

Official tasting notes

Colour – deep red and orange

Nose – brown sugar sweet but not sickly sweet. There is a deep leathery note but it’s not old tobacco smoking room leather with the patina of age but newer so think more DFS and less London Gentleman’s club. A few raisins as well

Palate – Even at cask strength it’s still quite subtle. Sure the official notes are there of vanilla, honey, cloves but then those are standard whisky flavours. The texture is luxury with the finishing casks adding silky thick lashing of syrupy grapes and barks of nut brittle

Finish – Very short finish which is subtly spiced and chilli’d

Vital Signs

Natural Colour	Yes
Chill Filtering	No
ABV	53.6%
Price	Auction only – £199 originally
Currently Available	No
Affiliate Link

Final Thoughts

Lets me real here you are paying for a limited run bottle with a lot of age which is cask strength. The actual flavours are nice enough but £200? The price is fair for the market but the actual whisky experience could be had for half the price from the same distillery using much younger barrels.