Bunnahabhain is one of Islay’s most remote distilleries, at the end of a single-track road on the north-east coast, and the one that most goes against the grain: most of its whisky is unpeated. On a site devoted to peated whisky it looks like an outsider, but it has a smoky version, Toiteach A Dhà, and the rest of the range shows what is left of Islay once you take the smoke away.
Origins (1881-1887)
It was founded in 1881 by William Robertson, of the Glasgow firm Robertson & Baxter, together with the brothers William and James Greenlees. Production started in 1883. The site was a remote bay near Port Askaig: building a distillery there also meant building homes for the workers and a pier, because barley and casks came and went by sea.
The sea stayed the main route for a long time: according to the distillery, Bunnahabhain could only be reached by boat until the 1960s, when the road arrived, and the last delivery by ship was in 1993. In 1887 the company became part of Highland Distillers, the group that would later become Edrington.
From blends to single malt (1887-2019)
For almost a century Bunnahabhain worked for blends: Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark and later Black Bottle. In 1963 the stills were doubled from two to four, and the floor maltings closed the same year. In 1982 a market slump shut it for two years, and after it restarted in 1984 production stayed low for a long time.
The single malt only reached the shelves at the end of the 1980s, sold under the self-deprecating slogan “the unpronounceable malt”. In 2003 Edrington sold Bunnahabhain and Black Bottle to Burn Stewart for £10 million; in 2013 Burn Stewart passed to Distell, the South African group. When Heineken bought Distell in 2023, the Scotch whisky business was left out: Bunnahabhain now belongs to CVH Spirits, owned by the South African holding company Capevin, in which Campari has held a minority stake since 2024. In 2019 a refurbishment of around £11 million began, with the old shoreline warehouses demolished to make room for a new visitor centre.
Production and style
The malt has a maximum of 2 ppm, practically unpeated. Around 20% of production, though, is heavily peated, with malt of at least 35 ppm, and goes mainly into Toiteach A Dhà. Water comes from the Margadale spring and fermentations in six wooden washbacks last between 50 and 100 hours.
There are four large stills: the two wash stills hold 35,000 litres but are filled to less than half. With plenty of copper and low fills, the spirit comes off light. In the glass Bunnahabhain is sweet, almost liqueur-like, and fruity, with a spicy ginger note that is its hallmark, and sometimes a salty edge from refill casks.
The core range
Almost the whole range is bottled at 46.3%. Prices are from the official shop in September 2026, with typical Italian online prices in euro where available.
- Bunnahabhain 12 (46.3%): the bottling that made the distillery’s name, unpeated. £47, around €52 in Italy.
- Stiùireadair (46.3%): no age statement, the cheapest of the range at £38.
- Toiteach A Dhà (46.3%): the peated version, the one to start with on this site. £47, around €57 in Italy.
- Bunnahabhain 18 (46.3%): six years older than the 12, at £135.
- Bunnahabhain 25, 30 and 40: the older ages, at £500, £650 and almost £3,000.
Casks
Bunnahabhain’s tradition is sherry: ex-sherry casks give the light spirit a rich sweetness, dried fruit and a body it would not have on its own. The official website describes its style in exactly those terms, unpeated and married to sherry casks. Refill casks leave more room for the spirit and its saltiness.
There is one more thing, rarely discussed because it comes from trade talk: the quality of the casks. Several people on the island say one of the distillery’s advantages is access to casks, the experimental ones above all, of a clearly higher standard than the island average. It is put down to direct supplies from wine, bourbon and other spirits producers in the Distell group, which the distillery belonged to until 2023. Take it with a pinch of salt: this is unconfirmed talk I heard in the bars of Islay.
Today
Bunnahabhain sits on the Sound of Islay, the strait facing Jura, a few kilometres from Caol Ila and Ardnahoe. If you are after peat, the way in is through its peated bottlings, which our guide to peated whiskies under €50 now flags as above that threshold.
Bunnahabhain proves that Islay is not only peat: same sea, same island, a sweet and spicy whisky. And when it does decide to use smoke, it does so with a character of its own.
