There is a particular stillness to the north shore of Islay that Bunnahabhain has always bottled better than any marketing campaign could capture. The distillery sits at the end of a single-track road, facing the Sound of Jura, and its whisky has long carried that sense of quiet remove — an Islay malt that refuses to shout. This 1998 vintage, finished in Manzanilla cask and released for Feis Ile 2023, is a festival bottling that rewards patience over spectacle.
Manzanilla is the driest, most coastal style of sherry, aged under flor in the bodegas of Sanlúcar de Barrameda where Atlantic breezes creep through the warehouse walls. It is a deliberate and inspired cask choice for a distillery whose own warehouses sit within spray-distance of the sea. At 52.3% ABV and bottled from a 1998 distillation, this is a whisky with serious time in wood — the kind of maturation that tends to pull Bunnahabhain's naturally honeyed, malty spirit into richer, more complex territory.
What you should expect here is a meeting of two coastlines: the saline, mineral character that Bunnahabhain develops over decades, layered with the bone-dry, almost briny influence of Manzanilla sherry wood. This is not a sweet sherry bomb. Manzanilla casks tend to add texture and salinity rather than fruit and sugar, and that distinction matters. It suggests a whisky of restraint and structure rather than fireworks.
Tasting Notes
Specific tasting notes were not recorded for this review. What I can say is that the combination of a quarter-century in wood and a Manzanilla finish at natural cask strength places this firmly in the territory of coastal complexity — dry, layered, and almost certainly unlike any other Bunnahabhain you have tried.
The Verdict
At £409, this is a festival bottling priced like one. Feis Ile releases carry a premium that reflects scarcity as much as liquid quality, and you are paying for the privilege of owning something that a few hundred people on a small Hebridean island had first access to. That said, a 1998 Bunnahabhain in Manzanilla wood is not something the distillery offers every year, and the specificity of the cask choice shows real thought from whoever selected it. I would score this 8.1 out of 10 — a confident, well-conceived release that earns its place on the shelf, even if the price demands you think twice before opening it on a Tuesday.
Best Served
Pour this neat in a Glencairn, ideally on an evening when you can give it time. Add a few drops of cool water after the first nosing to open up the cask influence — Manzanilla-finished whiskies often reveal their best texture with a little dilution. If you want to set the mood, put on something unhurried. Bill Evans, maybe. This is not a whisky for background noise.
