Bunnahabhain Toiteach a Dhà

Rejoice: the marvelous mòine Scotch returns.

Bunnahabhain (pronounced the same way Ewan McGregor would say Guten Tag), which means “mouth of the river” in Gaelic, found its home on the remote briny coast of the remote Scottish island of Islay. It’s the most northern distillery, which should be enough for them to be knighted the King of the North (of Islay). The distillery was founded by William Robertson and the Greenlees Brothers in 1881. After a few difficulties that included the gale blowing two perfectly good boilers into the ocean, the first bottle of Scotch was filled in 1883. Unfortunately, the distillery was closed in the year when E.T. came out, but they reopened it in 2002 with new plans and a twinkle in their eye. What’s their secret? Their source of water, which is the cool spring in the Margadale hills. When you taste their Whiskies, it’s like being on a boat: the smell of the sea and a whiff of peat smoke.

Another lesson in Gaelic is Toiteach a Dhà, which means “Smoky Two”. It’s an explosive sequel to the popular peaty blockbuster Toiteach. The producers saw that we loved its sumptuous smoky action, so they amped it up and added a strong sherried spice character. Bunnahabhain’s Senior Blender, Dr. Kirstie McCallum handpicked a combo of ex-Bourbon and Sherry casks to mature this peaty-sweet paradox of a Whisky. The grand Islay distiller wows our palates yet again.