Bn7 & Lp9 Elements of Islay Reviews

Hi everyone,

I’m a big fan of Elements of Islay since I first tried some of their stuff at my first ever whisky festival. They had a Laphroaig, Caol Ila and a Bowmore and I was really impressed with the quality.

Fast forward to now and they continue to impress with stellar releases, often putting the vintages, cask info, etc. on Whisky Exchange and their own website, where it can be found pretty easily.

We’ll have two new(er) ones today:

Bunnahabhain Bn7 55.8%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Cherry, cherry and more cherry. Vanilla, cherry lips, cherry sauce, small deserts, chocolate cake with cherry jam, Kirsch, really full on sweet nose. After time it’s like you are taking a big whiff of freshly made Christmas cake!

Taste: Sweet, intensely sweet, cherry, cherry sauce, chocolate pudding, some raisin, plum, clove spice, some of that Bunna harshness in there but its fine, oak and pepper.

Finish: Medium/Long length. A sweet hit, then leather and more drying, dry oak.

16yo from 2x Sherry butts. Lovely, lovely nose but some of that Bunna harshness dragging it down. Also, you need to be a big fan of cherry. Anywho, fans of Bunna will absolutely love this I imagine.

78/100

 

Laphroaig 1998 Lp9 54.3%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Sweet and smoky. Smoked sticky Chinese-style pork chops, the smoke and malt are pretty clear, the Sherry hasn't overwhelmed it, sweet orange, mineral and sea shore notes, melted dark chocolate. Delicious nose.

Taste: Really oily and thick, long arrival, takes its time, orange and cherry and raisin, the smoke and malt, Haribo cola bottles. Really nicely balanced with a gorgeous mouthfeel.

Finish: Medium length. Really oily again, orange and dark chocolate, again delicious.

Absolutely showstopper of a dram. What more is there to say? From a PX Sherry cask and I’m amazed at the great integration of sweet and smoky. IMO this is much better than the Masterpieces that Whisky Exchange did a while back.

88/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #720-#721

Whisky Network Reviews #858-#859

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ma2 Elements of Islay Review (Peated Bunna)

Hi everyone,

More whisky today, again from Elements of Islay. Who have been building a solid reputation for good casks.

The mysterious codes are always fun to try and work out too. From the obvious Lp to the more difficult ones like this. Ma stands for Margadale, which is not a distillery but a style of whisky from a distillery. It also happens to be the name of the river that Bunnahabhain uses for it’s water source.

 

Ma² Elements of Islay 55.2%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Subdued Bunna peat, some tropical fruit, lots of banana, greenish oak, wet leaves, sea salt, samphire.

Taste: Soft arrival then big, really intense, very peaty, mineral, salty, medicinal, cough sweets, some orange, very oily and quite spicy with white pepper.

Finish: Medium length. Mineral notes stay, with some white pepper tingling.

A 13yo peated Bunnahabhain. For some reason me and Bunnahabhain don’t seem to get along too well. This is very good whisky, but I’d be expecting more from a heavily peated Islay malt at this age. It’s that spiciness that’s holding it back, just a little harsh.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #542

Whisky Network Review #637

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Lp8 (Madeira Finish) Review [From Paris with Love]

Hi everyone,

Daves Whisky Reviews is 1 year old! Yay! It's the blog's anniversary today. Does that mean anything special? Not particularly. Business as usual: More reviews.

Do you remember that Cairdeas Laphhy from 2016 that was finished in Madeira casks? Well, if you were a fan of that (I haven’t tried it yet), you might be interested in this.

It’s a “Mystery malt” (huuuhhggggglaphhhuuuurooaighuuuuuhhg) Excuse me. A so called mystery malt from a very obvious Islay distillery. Distilled in 1998, it was then finished in Madeira casks.

Madeira is a funny fortified wine, in that to make it they essentially abuse the wine as much as possible, because they noticed that when the wine was stored on ships, it tasted better after a rough sea voyage round the world. Now, they heat it and slosh it about as much as they can in Madeira to try and replicate that.

Madeira isn’t hugely popular at the moment, but it’s seeing more use as whisky barrels recently as people become more experimental about finishings.

Lp⁸ 53.5%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Medicinal and fruity, blood orange, a little peppermint, opens up with lovely coastal sea air and seaweed.

Taste: Soft, orange then intense smoke and mineral and coastal waves, gritty stones, seaweed, some sweetness, spicy ginger.

Finish: Long length. Sweeter, fruitier and more coastal, orange and salt. Best bit.

This is a lovely style of Laphroaig (Whoops) The Madeira hasn’t overwhelmed the style at all, and there’s some great minerality and coastal flavours in here too.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #468

Whisky Network Review #535

Network Average: 74.3

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Bw7 Elements of Islay Review [From Paris with Love]

Hi everyone,

This is one of the new Elements of Islay releases from a 'mystery' distillery labelled 'Bw.' I'll give you one guess.

This was distilled in 2001 and matured in four Sherry butts.

Bw⁷ 53.2%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: BBQ sauce and heavy Sherry, malt, pommegranate, nice florals, powdered sugar on overdone doughnuts. Gristy.

Taste: Soft, silky then big Sherry and malty smoke, grows bigger again, slight BBQ, fig and date.

Finish: Long length. Goes in a completely different direction. Really fruity and sweet to end, sweet fig, some raisin, then drier with some oak.

This is obviously overly Sherried but remains very interesting with some interesting notes.

81/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #457

Whisky Network Review #521

Network Average: 74.2

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Sherried Ardbeg Reviews: Ar7 + 1976 Feis Ile 2004: TWE Show Report

Hi everyone,

I’ve got some Sherried Ardbeg’s from the Whisky Show today. One of my favourite styles.

First up is the Elements of Islay, 7th edition. These go for about £120 for a 50cl bottle, so let’s hope for 1990’s distillate.

Ar7 56.3%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Lovely, classic Ardy! Lime, Sherry, engine oil, kiln, smoke.

Taste: Full, intense smoke, integrated Sherry, lots of spice, ginger, oak and wood.

Finish: Long length. Very oily, lime and Sherry.

What is there to say, it’s Sherried Ardbeg. It’s great of course. Same score as the Oog though.

84/100

Let compare to some 70’s. A mate at the show got this as his dream dram (thanks Elias!), so I only got to try this very briefly.

Ardbeg 1976 Feis Ile 2004 51.4%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Beautiful. Sherry stewed fruit, lime citrus, peat smoke integrated.

Taste: Hugely oily, amazing lime rind, builds and builds, Sherry, raisin.

Finish: Long length. OMG, amazing, lime.

Single Sherry Cask. Bottled for the Feis Ile festival in 2004 at 27yo.

89/100

An incredible bottling of course, would we expect anything less of Sherried 70’s Ardbeg? No.

More to come!

Reviews #222-#223

Network Average: 75.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Laphroaig Lp6 Elements of Islay Review

Hello again,

Last year, Lp⁵ was the best whisky at the show. So, high expectations. Although, I think that was Sherry and this is Bourbon.

A series of short reviews from Bristol Whisky Lounge 2016. 13/20

Lp⁶ 51.3%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Classic older Bourbon Laphroaig. Very fruity, mango, pineapple, cinnamon, ginger. Very little smoke.

Taste: Soft arrival, fruit, mango, building spice and smoke.

Finish: Long length. Medicinal and mineral- Flint and bandages.

Notes: Very different to Lp5. That was very maritime. This is very reminiscent of the fully matured quarter cask I had at the distillery.

79/100

Review #112

Lagavulin Lg5 Elements of Islay Review

Hello, hello

More Lagavulin and more from Speciality Drinks. Elements really stole the show for me last year, especially the great Lp5.

A series of short reviews from Bristol Whisky Lounge 2016. Part 11/20

Lg⁵ 54.8%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Very clean, young Lagavulin. Lime juice and sea spray.

Taste: Olive oil, lemon, oily smoke, sea salt. Again very clean.

Finish: Short length. Lime, some smoke.

Notes: Very similar style to the 8yo so same mark. Doesn't drink like a cask strength normally would, very clean.

75/100

Review #111

Bruichladdich Br6 Elements of Islay

A series of short reviews from the Bristol Whisky Lounge 2016. Part 5/20

Br⁶ 50.4%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Fruit, salted caramel, vanilla, apple, rubber.

Taste: Intense fruit, caramel, toffee, vanilla, apple.

Finish: Short length. Fruit and spice.

Notes: Distilled in 1992. Quite average for an older Bruichladdich, I tend to prefer the younger ones.

70/100

Review #105

Bowmore IB's: Bw4, Bw5 & 1987 Wemyss

Hello everyone,

More Bowmore's today and it's going a few IB's (Independent bottlings).

This one is from The Whisky Exchange's line of NASish Islay bottlings. I've had a few of these and they really stole the show (for me) at the Bristol Whisky Lounge last year, especially Lp⁵

According to Whisky Exchange's website, this was distilled in the mid 90's. Making it about 18-20 years old.

Elements of Islay Bw⁴ 51.6%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Sour fermented fruit up front, peat smoke behind. Plum jam, jam tarts, fig, overripe apricot.

Taste: Sweet smoke, Sherry, more fermenting fruit, lots of cherry stones, blackcurrant and overripe peach.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Some fruity smoke.

This wasn't as good as the Caol Ila (which was very medicinal) or the Laphroaig (very maritime).

74/100

And the newest edition, tasted at Bristol Whisky Lounge 2015:

Bw⁵ 50.2%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Fruit and smoke, well balanced. Sour citrus, lots of lemon, melon, pineapple, mango, cinnamon.

Taste: Soft arrival, building up, sour citrus, lemon, pear, mango, lovely smoke.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Mango with oak.

Notes: Distilled 1996 or before. Really great balance, only thing holding it back from greatness was the length of the finish for me.

78/100

On the approach to 100 reviews I feel it is appropriate to post the actual 100th whisky I tasted. It was also one of the best whiskies I've ever had.

There are generally three things I look for in an excellent whisky: Complexity, balance and power. Normally the best way to score high for me is to have loads of power with good balance and complexity. But this is the only one I've had that is the other way round: loads of complexity and balance with some power.

Image courtesy of Master of Malt

Bowmore 1987 Wemyss 'Sweet Peat Posy' 46%

Colour: Straw

Body: Full

Nose: Big and very complex. A good blast of peat, even at this age. There's also lots of fruit, citrus and floral notes. Lemon, lemon cake, lots of vanilla, brown sugar, sweet fragrant malt, some chocolate. Coastal peat- briny with sea soaked rocks and flint, wet ash and seaweed develops. Older notes too- Tobacco, leather, leather armchair, maybe a meaty note- Sweet smoked ham maybe? Going more sweet- some strawberry and raspberry. Then more floral- grass, hay, daffodils and roses. Just keeps evolving through layers of smoke, sweetness and flora.

Oak coming through after 10 minutes- Spicier with cinnamon on carrot cake. Some pomegranate, mango, peach and orange peel coming through.

After time (30 mins) the smoke fades.

After time in the bottle there's a lovely earthy very dark chocolate with butterscotch, toffee and vanilla fudge. Going more oily earth (still fresh) after more time in the bottle.

Water: More complex chocolate- cocoa powder, dark chocolate. More oak too- American oak, crème brulee and dried banana.

Taste: Intense dark chocolate, then the peat hits with burning hay and grass (light lemon in the background), oak with complex spice- cinnamon and nutmeg, lemon juice, lemon and orange peel, meringue, malt, chocolate again, vanilla, strong floral oak, leather,tobacco and pipe smoke. Developing lots of very salty brine and seaweed, ash, soot and charcoal.

After some time in the bottle there's a brilliant complex oily earthiness.

Water: Less intense arrival. More fruity and less peaty. Mango, peach, blackberry, cherry and peach stones with cherry chocolate.

Finish: Long length. Layers of floral peaty seaweed with chocolatey spice staying for quite some time.

Bottled 2014, 26yo from a hogshead. The peat has been preserved well, perhaps they upped the ppm to off put the whores.

Amazing stuff. This was my first experience of long aged smoky whisky. Quite fresh but older notes still present. Oxidises wonderfully.

92/100

For £190 I was tempted but never bought a bottle. But I did secure a bottle of much cheaper Cadenheads 1989 Bowmore from a Bourbon hogshead.

Reviews #95-#97

Network Average: 76.2

Best Score: 91

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent