Bunnahabhain Feis Ile 2020 - Madeira Cask Finish (2002 vintage)

The Distillery
Bunnahabhain sits at the end of a single-track road on the north-eastern shore of Islay, looking out across the Sound of Islay to Jura — about as remote a distillery as Scotland has to offer. Founded in 1881, it draws its water from the Margadale Spring rather than the peaty streams more typical of the island, and has long been the outlier of Islay whisky: where its neighbours built reputations on heavy peat smoke, Bunnahabhain's house style has traditionally been soft, maritime and largely unpeated — proof that Islay character comes from more than just phenol count.
The distillery still has its own pier, a legacy of the days when casks and coal arrived by sea rather than road, and that isolation has shaped its whisky as much as its water has: a style built on patience and salt air rather than smoke.
The Whiskey: Fèis Ìle 2020, Madeira Cask Finish
Every year, Islay's distilleries release a small, festival-only bottling to mark Fèis Ìle — the island's whisky and music festival held each May. In 2020 the festival itself was cancelled to the pandemic, so Bunnahabhain's release went out into the world differently than planned: sold online rather than poured at the distillery gate, with 1,164 bottles carrying a small rainbow motif on the label, a quiet nod to the symbol communities were putting in their windows that spring.
The whisky itself was distilled on 24 October 2002 and spent fourteen years in refill hogsheads before being transferred into ex-Madeira hogsheads in June 2016, finishing there for three years. Bottled in January 2020 at cask strength — 53% ABV — it's natural colour and non-chill filtered throughout, letting the Madeira influence show without any of the usual commercial smoothing.
 
Tasting Notes
Colour: Burnished copper, deep and glowing — the Madeira cask's signature.
Nose: Ripe figs and orange marmalade lead, backed by creamy summer berries and a warm dust of nutmeg. There's real generosity here, the fortified wine influence sitting comfortably alongside Bunnahabhain's softer, coastal base spirit.
Palate: Rich and layered — sweet vanilla and caramelised fruit arrive first, followed by a wave of spicy cinnamon and raisin. Underneath, a thread of dry oak keeps the sweetness in check, a reminder of the fourteen years spent in refill wood before the Madeira ever touched it.
Finish: Long, dry, and warm, the spice slowly giving way to a last lingering trace of sweet marmalade.
Serve: Neat, in a tulip glass — the cask strength has enough backbone to take a drop of water if you want to open the fruit further, but it's balanced enough to enjoy as poured.