That Boutique-y Whisky Company was launched in 2012 by Master of Malt, the Tunbridge Wells retailer, as a small-batch independent bottler with a distinctive house style — literally. Each label is a comic strip drawn by illustrator Emily Chappell, depicting scenes inspired by the distillery of origin, and bottles are numbered by batch rather than age.
Bunnahabhain sits on the north-east coast of Islay, founded in 1881 and long known as the island's gentler voice — predominantly unpeated, with a maritime character drawn from its shoreline warehouses. Batch 1 was among the early Boutique-y releases and set the template: small outturns, cask-strength or near-it, and no chill-filtration.
The nose here is classic unpeated Bunna — salted nuts, orchard fruit dried in the sun, and that faint coastal lift the distillery never quite shakes off. The palate is oilier than the official 12, with walnut and demerara carrying an orange-peel brightness. The finish lingers on salted almond and apricot leather.
Boutique-y bottlings are a throwback to a time when independents simply bought casks they liked and let them speak. The comic-strip labels may be whimsical, but what's inside is as serious as any indie bottling on the shelf.
