We tasted the Bunnahabhain 1973 Over 35 Years Artist at a LAWS event involving a bunch of other heavily sherried whiskies like the Tobermory 33. Some of the whiskies were pretty good, some were just ok and more than one of them I wanted to go home with. You can see by the score above which category this one falls into.
This bottle of Bunnahabhain 1973 Over 35 Years Artist comes from the first collaboration between La Maison Du Whisky and Signatory Vintage and involved the artist Warren Khong. This series was called Faces and features one of Wanner’s faces on the other side of the bottles. La Maison du Whisky has continued this line and each year collaborates with a new artist to design the labels and Signatory to source the whisky. It’s a pretty cool series.
Bunnahabhain 1973 Over 35 Years Artist Info
Region: Islay, Scotland
Distiller: Bunnahabhain
Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: Sherry Butt
Age: 35 Years (73-11)
ABV: 49.4%
Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color
Price: N/A – Auction or specialty shop
Bunnahabhain 1973 Over 35 Years Artist Review
EYE
Ruddy copper
NOSE
Caramel, sherry, nuts, dark fruit and a bit of ink… and that’s about it. The nose on this is nearly dead. Even adding water didn’t do much for it. It’s just not a dynamic aroma.
PALATE
Caramel, sherry, nuts, wood and a weird savory spice characteristic. Like the nose, the palate is pretty muted and uneventful. Water didn’t help here either.
FINISH
Medium in length and speckled with notes of sherry, malt, cocoa, smoke and char. It’s honestly my favorite part about this whisky.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Ok balance, medium body and a light feel.
OVERALL
Bunnahabhain 1973 Over 35 Years Artist was not an exciting whisky, but it also wasn’t a bad whisky. We tasted this at a blind LAWS event and after the reveal I looked at my notes and said “damn”. I couldn’t believe a 35 year old sherry cask Bunny could be this lackluster. My only thought is that maybe Signatory got a bum barrel and La Maison Du Whisky put a hefty price on it so that folks would either convince themselves it was awesome or never open it. That’s just a conspiracy theory though.
The Bunnahabhain 1973 Over 35 Years Artist is a perfectly sippable whisky and I’m not trashing it. I’m just saying that it’s a fairly average whisky and you’d think that for its age it would contain more depth. Just goes to show that a bigger age-statement doesn’t always mean better.
SCORE: 83-86/100 (B, not consumed at home)
