Image 1 of 1
Fellow Drammers!
You’re invited to join us on Sunday August 2nd starting at Noon Pacific / 3pm EST in the US and 20:00 in Scotland for a special online tasting with Julieann Fernandez, the Master Blender overseeing the entire CVH whisky portfolio, including from the Bunnahabhain, Deanston and Tobermory distilleries. This is one of those tastings where 10 expressions really doesn’t give us enough room to include all the special bottlings we wanted to include. Our club makes its annual pilgrimage to Islay each May to attend their big annual festival (Feis Ile), where they release a handful of extra-special bottles on the morning of their “open day” at the distillery. We were of course waiting in line when they opened to pick up the bottles so we could include them in this tasting. This year, we’ve also included a handful of their biggest releases from Deanston and Tobermory/Ledaig as well. Check out this lineup:
Bunnahabhian - Ceithir Ginealaich. Bunnahabhain released three special releases in honor of this year’s Feis Ile this past May, plus this extra-special bottling in honor 2026 being the 40th anniversary of the festival. Ceithir Ginealaich means Four Generations in Scots Gaelic - and so appropriately enough, this expression marries four hand-selected casks, one from each decade of the festival's history. Matured in Canasta, Oloroso, Port and Virgin Oak. 52.8% abv.
Bunnahabhain - An Cuan Garbh No. 1. Last year the distillery launched a 3-part series of bottlings for Feis Ile, that they called the Westering Home Collection. The first 3-release series were named Turas Math No. 1, 2 and 3 (we’ll be trying #1 as part of this tasting, see below). This year, the 2nd set of releases in the Westering Home Collection went by the names An Cuan Garbh No. 1, 2 and 3. Like last year, a small number of bottles of No. 1 were distributed to the US, while No. 2 and 3 were distillery exclusives. An Cuan Garbh No. 1 is finished in white port casks from Portugal’s Douro Valley, aged 15 years, 51.6% abv.
Bunnahabhain - An Cuan Garbh No. 2. Distillery exclusive Feis Ile 2026 bottling. Finished in hand-selected Fino sherry hogsheads, no age statement on this one, and guessing from the higher abv, it’s probably a little younger. According to the distillery, this expression celebrates Fèis Ìle and brings together crisp orchard fruit, almond nuttiness and Bunnahabhain’s signature coastal character. 56.7% abv.
Bunnahabhain - An Cuan Garbh No. 3. Distillery exclusive Feis Ile 2026 bottling. This is a Moine release, indicating it’s peated Bunnahabhain. A 15 Year Old whisky full matured in a single refill sherry butt, per the distillery, this peated expression celebrates Fèis Ìle and balances rolling smoke, dried fruit richness and lingering coastal warmth. 58.4% abv.
Bunnahbahain - Turas Math No. 1. For comparison, we’re including one of the bottlings from the 2025 Feis Ile. A 15yo combination of spirit fully matured in Manzanilla Sherry Casks and spirit finished in rich Amarone Wine casks. 55.9% abv. (Details).
Tobermory 21yo. We wanted to give Julieann a chance at this event to talk a bit about the Tobermory distillery that she also oversees, and hard to do much better than this hard-to-find 21yo release from them. Finished in Oloroso sherry casks, with notes of cherry wood, brown sugar and caramelised pineapples. (details). 46.3% abv.
Deanston 17yo Orange Wine Finish. Next we’ll turn to the Deanston Distillery, this is a fun and brand new limited edition release (only 7,000 bottles globally). They describe it as “a new experimental single malt bursting with sun-soaked Spanish flavours. Think bitter orange, honeyed sweetness and that smooth, waxy depth we're known for.” 53.6% abv.
Deanston 18yo. This was a limited edition 2024 release, matured in American white oak ex-Bourbon barrels for 18 years. A classic Deanston whisky with notes of sweet barley sugar, vanilla and crisp apple. 46.3% abv (details)
Deanston 2002 20yo Organic. Another limited edition release matured in organic American oak, which they indicate gives it a waxy, citrus character with a long cocoa finish. 49.7% abv. (details).
Ledaig 10yo. We figured we had to throw in at least one core range expression. Distilled at the Tobermory Distillery, their Ledaig whiskies are their peated expressions. Their classic 10yo is aged in an ex-bourbon cask. 46.3% abv
That’s our lineup, we hope you can join us! The event will take place over Zoom and we will circulate the Zoom login info closer to the event. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Drammers Club