Bunnahabhain (Bu-na-ha-venn), meaning 'mouth of the river', was purpose-built for blending. In 1881, Bunnahabhain produced whisky destined for Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark. Much of what Bunnahabhain makes today still goes into blends – it is a dominant part of Black Bottle - however, the distillery also produces some outstanding single malts, and a visit to Bunnahabhain Distillery is a fantastic opportunity to try them. In addition, a visit to Bunnahabhain Distillery offers travellers exceptional views of Jura from the new Bunnahabhain visitor centre.
How to Pronounce Bunnahabhain
Pronounced 'bu-na-ha-venn'
Bunnahabhain Whisky
Bunnahabhain 12 is one of my go-to whiskies. It’s a lovely clean, crisp dram that goes down very nicely. It has never occurred to me to add water. I was fortunate enough try a 9yo heavily peated bottling at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh, and more recently, a Bunnahabhain 13 yo finished in Moine Olorosso – available only at the distillery. Unlike the other Islay distilleries, heavily peated whiskies are not what Bunnahabhain has historically produced as their primary product. However, they do this style incredibly well. Click here to check out Bunnahabhain’s core heavily peated range Ceobanach. If you’re visiting the distillery, see what small batch heavily peated bottlings they have on offer, as they are well worth trying.
Bunnahabhain Warehouse 9 Single Cask Release AR13000007 13 year old Moine Oloroso Finish. Bottled 26/10/17.
Where is Bunnahabhain Distillery?
Located on the Isle of Islay, Bunnahabhain is 4 miles (6.5 km) off the A846 and 4.6 miles (7.4 km) from Port Askaig.
Getting to Bunnahabhain by Car
If you’ve got a car, Bunnahabhain is a straight forward drive, not too far along from Ardnahoe distillery. It is a single lane road, so watch out for oncoming cars and lorries. There are many passing places along the asphalt route. You can’t miss Bunnahabhain it as it’s at the end of the road.
Getting to Bunnahabhain by Bus/Walking
If you’re on foot (as I have done!) it is a fabulous walk along the road, with sweeping views across the Sound of Islay – just ask the bus driver (route 451 Port Askaig) to drop you off at the road to Bunnahabhain. Please note, it is a 4 mile walk each way, although I have always found fellow travellers to be very helpful in providing lifts, and it never hurts to ask at a distillery if someone is going your way. Be sure to check the bus timetable as Islay buses are infrequent. They also finish early on Saturdays and don’t run on a Sunday.
Ardnahoe Distillery is also now at the half way point between Bunnahabhain and Caol Ila, so you'll have somewhere to stop for a rest (and perhaps a wee dram?) on the way/way back.
Getting a Taxi or Private Hire to Bunnahabhain
For information on catching Islay Taxi services, see our Guide to Getting Around Islay Without a Car.
Islay Maps and Photographic Prints
Whisky Gifts, Wall Art and Man Cave Decor. Made By Whisky Lovers For Whisky Lovers
Bunnahabhain Distillery Tours, Pricing & Bookings
Children of all ages are welcome at the distillery (visitors centre), but must be 12 years or older to go on a tour.
For tour times see https://bunnahabhain.com/pages/distillery-experiences
Distillery Production Tour
An expertly guided tour of Bunnahabhain Distillery followed by a tasting of two (2) 25ml drams of Bunnahabhain whisky. £20 per person and 50 minutes duration. Children over 8 years of age may accompany their parents on this tour - children's tickets are £6. Advanced online bookings are highly recommended. Drivers drams are available.
Warehouse 9 Tasting
The Warehouse 9 tasting is one of Bunnahabain's most popular events. Enjoy an exclusive tasting of 4 x 25ml drams of cask strength whisky straight from the cask while hidden away from the outside world in Bunnahabhain’s Warehouse 9 (originally one of the the malt floors). £50 per person, 90 minutes duration. Online advanced bookings are highly recommended. Persons must be aged 18 years or older to attend the Warehouse 9 Tasting. This is a tasting only experience - if you also wish to do a tour, you need book a production tour that starts BEFORE the warehouse 9 tasting, as they wont let you toddle around the production areas after consuming 4 cask strength drams.
Visitor Centre Tastings
Fabulous whisky with an even better view - enjoy a few drams in the shiny new purpose-built Bunnahabhain Distillery Visitor Centre. Online bookings are available for visitor centre tastings.
Bunnahabhain Coterie Flight (£20)
3 drams including the 2009 French Wine Finish, the 2008 Rioja Cask Finish and 2009 Amarone Finish.
Bunnahabhain Premium Tasting (£35)
Whiskies tasted include:
- Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old
- Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old
- Two Distillery Exclusive Limited Releases
Bunnahabhain Feis Tasting (£40)
Four (4) drams including past and current Feis Ile special releases, some at cask strength, and a mòine release.
Old & Rare Bunnahabhain Tasting (£200)
- Bunnahabhain 25 Year Old
- Bunnahabhain 30 Year Old
- Bunnahabhain 40 Year Old
- Limited Release Feis Ile bottling
Bunnahabhain Distillery, Islay, 1 Mile
Bunnahabhain Distillery Images
I have been told, by a mostly reliable Islay local, that the original Bunnahabhain distillery architect was usually employed to design prisons. One look at Bunnahabain, and it’s not hard to believe! The high walls and stark design are very reminiscent of a prison, though in this case, the purpose would have been to keep the whisky in, and potential thieves out!
Bunnahabhain has undergone recent renovations thanks to a £10.5m investment by parent company Distell International. A key part of the redevelopment is the new visitor centre, complete with distillery shop. Th new visitor centre has been designed to take advantage of the distillery's stunning views over Bunnahabhain Bay and across the Sound of Islay, towards Jura.
Other areas being improved include the build of a new filling store, refurbishment of the production building and the six cottages that run alongside the distillery, which will eventually be used for holiday accommodation.
The development schedule has been carefully designed to ensure minimal disruption to whisky production and to distillery visitors.
Click on the image gallery below to open in full screen mode.
Bunnahabhain Whisky Gifts, Wall Art and Home Bar Decor, Made By Whisky Lovers For Whisky Lovers.
Our museum-quality maps, illustrations and photographs transform memories into masterpieces that you'll proudly display for years to come. Our posters and fine art prints will inspire future adventures, spark conversations, and transport you to legendary whisky distilleries with every glance.
The Bunnahabhain Process
As part of the overall upgrades to Bunnahabhain Distillery, parent company Distell International partnered with AMP Clean Energy and Dallol Energya to build a biomass power plant behind the distillery, which burns wood chips and draff (leftover grain from mashing) and generates steam energy. The biomass plant saves 5500 tonnes of carbon emissions a year, representing a reduction of 95% over oil, and made Bunnahabhain the first distillery on Islay with a net-zero distillation process. It saw them win the 2022 "Sustainable Development of the Year Award" at the Scottish Green Energy Awards.
Porteus machine No. MM-RB-25. Installed 10 March 1964. Bunnahabhain Distillery, Islay, Scotland. The barley elevator is visible behind the malt mill.
The Porteus De-Stoner (above) and Malt Mill (below). The barley is carried up from the grain silos and into the de-stoner for sieving before being dropped (gravity) into the malt mill for grinding into grist.
Copper topped mash tun and Porteus Grist Hopper at Bunnahabhain Distillery, Islay, Scotland.
The copper-topped mash tun at Bunnahabhain Distillery, with a Porteus Patent hopper.
Underneath the mash tun at Bunnahabhain Distillery, Islay, Scotland.
The heat exchanger at Bunnahabhain Distillery. The hot liquids leaving the mash tun (around are passed through the heat exchanger, so the wash is cooled prior to entering the washbacks.
Four of the Oregon Pine washbacks at Bunnahabhain Distillery. They are the biggest washbacks on Islay - each washback contains 100,000 litres of wort.
The four washbacks at Bunnahabhain are immense - each has a capacity for 100,000 litres of wort - though washbacks are usually only filled to 3/4 capacity as they 'grow'/foam while fermenting. The fermentation period is between 56 and 60 hours. One-quarter of a fermented washback (~17,500 litres) is used to charge a wash still.
There are two large wash stills at Bunnahabhain Distillery, with a capacity of 35,356 litres, which is quite considerable compared to Ardbeg's new wash still, which has only 18,270 litres capacity. The two onion-shaped Spirit/Lowwines Stills have a capacity of 15,546 litres each. Between them, they produce around 3.5 million litres of spirit per year.
Spirit and Wash Stills, Bunnahabhain Distillery Islay. Note: normally you wont be able to get a picture of the stills, however I was fortunate enough on my first trip to visit during the silent season.
The ‘mouth of the river’ that the name Bunnahabhain refers to, is the Margadale River. Margadale spring water is used in production of Bunnahabhain whisky (mashing, bottling etc).
Margadale River, Bunnahabhain, Islay
What Other Distilleries Are Near Bunnahabhain?
References & Further Reading
In A Passion for Whisky Ian Wisniewski provides an excellent education on the processes involved in making whisky, and details Islay's whisky heritage. Ian profiles of each of Islay's ten open distilleries and their different styles of whisky, and even includes an introduction to three Islay distilleries that are currently under construction (Laggan Bay, Portintruan and Ili). A Passion for Whisky will suit whisky fans and novices alike (as there is a lot of educational content for all levels), and was selected as one of Waterstones Best Books of 2023: Food & Drink and featured in Forbes: Whisky Books That Whisky Lovers Will Actually Read. Available in paperback and Kindle.
Ingvar Ronde's annual guide to all things Scotch whisky, The Malt Whisky Yearbook is your go-to guide for distillery facts and stats. With comprehensive and up-to-date distillery summaries, editorials on the state of world whisky, profiles on global whisky trail blazers (the people having the most impact on the industry), the Malt Whisky Yearbook packs in a lot of facts and figures and is an essential Almanac for whisky fans.
One of Amanda's favourite books. Around 1885, Alfred Barnard was secretary of Harper's Weekly Gazette, a journal dedicated to the wine and spirit trade. In order to provide his readers with the history and descriptions of the whisky-making process, Barnard decided to visit all distilleries in Scotland, England and Ireland. Accompanied by friends, he visited and sketched over 150 distilleries. This is a wonderful step back in time and a must have book for a whisky history geek. Last printed in 2023, copies of Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom are disappearing from retailers, so get yours while you still can.
Whiskies Galore is not your average whisky book. It is not simply a catalogue of distilleries, but a story of discovery and adventure. Join Ian Buxton on a personal journey across Scotland's islands, combining his expert knowledge of whisky with his fondness for anecdote, as he provides a special treat for all who love Scotland's islands and their drams.
Treating Scotland as eight distinct regions (splitting the Highlands into Central, North, East, and West, plus the usual designations of Lowlands, Islay, Speyside and Islands), the Spirit of Place provides insight and imagery for fifty of Scotland’s greatest distilleries. Beautifully photographed by Lara Platman and Allan MacDonald, this is a captivating modern companion to Alfred Barnard’s great Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom.