Review 272. Bonnington Peated Muscat cask. 2025 release

You know how the 3 ‘vital’ keywords for any business tend to be ‘location location location’. When it comes to whisky however, I think  it’s OK to politely disagree with that mantra. Point in case: a distillery like Ardnamurchan, which, any way you look at it, is a bugger to get to. ‘Remote’ doesn’t cover it. The nearest town is probably Fort William, 42 miles away, or a 90 minute commute, which includes taking a ferry. If you don’t like boats, you can get there by land, which will add 15 miles and 20 minutes of driving to your journey. And yet, a good decade after it first started producing whisky, it’s been well established as one of the most respected and revered producers out there.

In the case of whisky, I feel what beats location, probably by a landslide at that, is timing. Just last week, I namedropped the 3 in-the-making Campbeltown distilleries (another place in Scotland that’s beyond ‘remote’, it’s near well ‘isolated’) and how it’s almost eerily quiet around them. Just like the distillery I’m focusing on today I feel they too missed the boat setting sail for  Buzz Harbour.

I definitely don’t want to go as far as calling it a blessing, but the Covid pandemic somehow coincided with the launch of quite a few of now celebrated and embraced new distilleries. Torabhaig, Ardnamurchan, Raasay, Linodres, Lochlea, Kingsbarns… all of them were founded in the years pre Covid, and as people were confined to their electronic devices to keep in touch with was happening beyond their font door, meant that this new wave of whisky producers arrived at the scene  when everyone was all but bored out of their skull and jumped at the opportunity to try something new, fresh and exciting. The amount of online tastings and whisky chats many of us had talking to a screen during that time, did provide a lot of new (and old) distilleries the opportunity to send out tons and tons of parcels to all sides of the continent and possibly beyond. Location was of little importance, as literally no one was going anywhere. Which meant that rather than having to pay a truckload of money to travel all across the UK and beyond to promote your new brand at festivals and shops, all the people making the stuff needed, was a laptop, a webcam and a microphone. And when the world opened up again, the seeds were not only planted, they had firmly taken root and had started to blossom.

Timing didn’t just beat location, it took down its trousers and gave it a damn good spanking.

In my recollection, that peak lasted right until the end of 2022-early 2023 – roughly around the time when most of the last and final restrictions re: the pandemic were lifted. And while the crisis  might have been a blessing in disguise for those producers already having some matured stock lying about, it must have been an absolute nightmare for those that either had just begun producing or were just about to become operational. With guidelines and regulations about maintaining distance and the amount of people allowed at the same location changing on an almost monthly  basis, I don’t even want to think about the amount of extra planning that came into play just to be able to allow  your staff to do their jobs.

It’s hard to say what would have happened if there was no such thing as a global pandemic forcing us to do things differently. While I do believe there’s truth in that other adage to never waste a good crisis, I don’t think that without covid whisky would be in a much different place than where it is now. With dozens and dozens of new, 21^st century producers on top of the 100 or so that were already active and well-established, we’re now well over 150 operational distilleries (and dozens more in various stages of planning and building!), an overheated and oversaturated market seemed inevitable regardless of either covid or Brexit. It’s long since clear that the sky isn’t the limit after all, and that whisky fatigue is a thing. Perhaps not so much for you and I, but likely when it comes to keeping occasional consumers interested and definitely when it comes to connecting with a younger generation. Recent events like temporarily mothballings and even complete closures are now much more an issue and topic than they were five years ago…

Bonnington Peated Muscat Cask, 2025 release. 51% ABV, 1056 bottles, app. €55/£48

This sample comes curtesy of fellow Belgian Barfly (Italo-Belgian to be precise) who, just last weekend, treated us to a sublime blind tasting. We were given, as it turned out,  6 top notch whiskies from German indie bottler Sansibar and boy did he spoil us! You know it’s been a truly special tasting when a 24 year old Springbank (!) was your least favourite of the afternoon. Full disclosure: an 11 yo Williamson was my favourite, followed by a 21 yo ‘secret Orkney’, a 30 yo single grain from North British, a 15 yo Ledaig and then a 30 yo blended Speyside and the Springer. And as if that wasn’t enough, the ‘winner’ (by sheer dumb luck that was me - but I’ll take it) was gifted a bottle of batch 5 of Thompson’s Brothers Mystery Malts. Which as it turns out was a 13 year old Inchmurrin. Which of course was opened and shared on the spot – there’s no such thing as being greedy, especially in the presence of such tremendous generosity. Some days are better than others, q.e.d.

Nose

A combo of sweet peat, vanilla and lemon sorbet. Some floral notes and fruit – strawberry, banana and banana foam. It’s youthful, but pleasant and inviting.

Palate

Ashy peat first and foremost, but gentle too, so nothing aggressive or overpowering. There’s a pleasant dirty – oily element to it. The youth manifests itself in the form of some white pepper and grainy notes and . Overall less sweetness than I’d expect based on the nose, but that also makes it interesting in my book. It has a medium full texture with a dry, clinging mouthfeel.

Finish

Oily – clinging and peppery. Not exactly long  - even in a bit of a rush to get out the door.

Final thoughts

A nice, youthful whisky. Perhaps a tad young and spirit driven and apart from the nose I didn’t get much from the wine cask. That said, it’s fairly priced, presented with integrity and it’s very pleasant to sip.  I fully understand why Yuri bought it and is happy with this bottle. Bonnington launched its inaugural release almost 2.5 years ago. Yet, and despite being operational  since 2020 and producing half a million LPA, hasn’t so far caught my eye, and what I understand from Yuri it was more of a coincidence he did too – when recently visiting Edinburgh. I am very glad I got to try this and the distillery is now on my radar thanks to this sample, as I fear it would otherwise be like quite a few others that weren’t around in time to ride the big wave of excitement that befell the likes of Ardnamurchan and others mentioned above. Not to say Bonnington sort of washed ashore anonymously in the wave that came rolling in afterwards, but I somehow feel as if they will need to work harder  to ‘earn their place’ and get our attention. Is that fair? Absolutely not! Am I overwhelmed by what I tried? Perhaps not, but, as said, this right here is good and pleasant whisky, presented with integrity and it comes at a decent price. Therefore… Am I inclined to try more from them based on this sample? Absolutely yes!