Looking for durrrty whisky... The one from Islay

February is a bit of a peculiar, often downright weird and occasionally a bit of a cruel month. Winter still tends to hold a firm grip on things around these parts, with days and weeks of freezing temperatures. And while there’s a distinct possibility of milder weather, chances are you’ll have to take the strong winds and rain and occasional floods that come with it. It’s like foul weather season knows its time has just about come, but refuses to leave the stage without putting up a fight, and will only go down kicking and screaming to make way for somewhat nicer conditions.

So while the promise of Spring might occasionally – quite literally- be hanging in the air this time of year, there will be plenty times when you crave for a strong dram after getting home soaked, blown out or freezing. Chances are it’ll be all three at the same time. What I tend to crave for in these conditions usually isn’t something nice and delicate and nuanced. No, I want something strong and bold, a dram that that will light the fire inside and puts some proverbial hair on my chest. Preferably a dram equally dirty and filthy as the weather outside.

And that’s exactly what I’ll be looking for the coming weeks. Drams that pack a punch: farmyard funk notes, strong smoke and peat, rich meaty-umami flavours, industrial heavy duty stuff with harbour-like flavours the likes of wet ropes and motor oil. Big bold sherry badasses with a million spice notes and some sulphur even. Whisky that will give me a kick in the teeth, basically.

So roaming the whisky landscape, I’ll be dropping off at Islay, the Highlands, Campbeltown and then either Speyside or Ireland, looking for that ‘oomph’ whisky moment to help me get through these last few dark winter weeks.

And what better place to start than the promised land for all things strong and peaty: Islay.

Now obviously there are choices a plenty when it comes to picking a bold and peated Islay whisky, but I feel I might have stepped away from the usual suspects a bit on this one and went with an indie release of something that, based on its name, is ticking all of the boxes of what I’m looking for…

Bunnahbhain Staoisha Storm Kelpie – Made in the Maelstrom – Sea Shepherd. Signatory Vintage 7 yo (2014-2021), 46 % ABV, natural colour, UCF, 3360 bottles from dechar/rechar hogsheads, app. €50-€60

Staoisha – the official / unofficial name for indie peated Bunnahabhain tends to be in high demand, as is pretty much anything Islay of course. But seeing how heavily peated official Bunna is not always readily available (official releases of both the Toiteach A Dha – rather excellent imo – and the Moine - good, not great – come in limited supply), the Staoisha releases particularly have built a bit of a reputation for bringing good to excellent quality, often at not entirely ludicrous prices at that. Named after the small namesake Loch not too far away from Bunnahabhain distillery, a bit land inward and about halfway between Port Askaig and Ardnahoe, it’s a bit of a rugged and remote part of Islay, and Bunnahabhan distillery uses the salty wet contents of the loch as cooling water for their stills.

‘Storm Kelpie’? ‘Made in the Maelstrom’? If the name is anything to go by, this might well already be the quintessential dirty, badass whisky. But of course, the proof is in the nosing and tasting. Which we well come to, immediately.

Nose

Dirty and fruity notes, like peaches and smoked bacon combined with senses of peat, tar and wet hay. Clear maritime salinity against some sweeter notes from red apples. Antiseptic notes with a quite crisp, clean smokiness in it. A drop of water accentuates citric notes. So far, so good!

Palate

Fruity arrival of pears and apples, followed by a big wave of ashy smoke. Surprisingly a bit of a light, almost thin dry mouthfeel. Mid palate it becomes more robust, reminiscent of harbour notes like wet ropes and motor oil, with some viscosity towards the back.

Finish

Ashy, smoky with dried canned fruits. After the added water, the fruit makes way for more smoke and ash.

Final thoughts

Well I think it’s fair to say we’re off to a quite promising start. This is a decently priced indie Islay that delivers what I was aiming for. Plenty of flavour, plenty of character, and while it definitely has a ‘dirtyness’ to it, it‘s far from filthy imo. Now, I get this is mostly dechar/rechar, so that probably steered things into a certain direction. I wouldn’t have minded to come across some more dark notes, because from my experience, that’s where peated Bunnahabhain really shines. Overall, it’s very decent, but maybe also a bit too much of a 'sterotypical’ Islay whisky to really stand out? But that is by no means a bad thing per se, so basically it's actually me nit-picking a bit here. After a classic, decent vlue, good quality, slightly dirty Islay whisky? Right this way.

84/100