We are all familiar with the Apollo moon program of the 1960s and 70s. The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing was a couple of years ago. But now we are preparing to return to the moon with NASA's Artemis program. And to celebrate the (still delayed) launch of Artemis 1, we are delighted to bring to you an incredible single cask from Islay to mark our return to the Moon: Bunnahabhain Artemis 30 Year Old 1990, 54.8% - The 1st Launch Edition.
In 1972, the final mission of the Apollo space programme which sent the first humans to, around and onto the moon, and home again. Apollo 11 provided one of the most historically significant and important events of human endeavour and engineering. When the crew of Apollo 17 returned to Earth in December 1972, the programme came to an end amid waning enthusiasm and finances. Little did anybody realise that it would be 50 years before a new programme to return humans even close to our beautiful moon.
The Artemis programme is the final result of a number of failed NASA projects going back to the early 2000s. To cut a long story very short, after years of political rankling and financial promises, the Artemis program was named in 2019 and the lengthy plans and development began to focus on a first launch plan. Artemis 1, an non crewed lunar orbit and return was (very early) scheduled for 2017 but successive delays saw late 2021 as a likley date. However, this was further delayed with February 2022, or even Summer 2022 now the likley launch date. However, in November 2021 the Orion spacecraft of Artemis 1 was stacked in October 2021. We await launch. As planning goes, this superb whisky has not fallen to quite the same level of delay so in full anticipation, and so you can have it in your hand when the day of launch arrives, The Whisky Barrel presents Bunnahabhain Artemis First Launch Edition , 30 Year Old 1990.
Matured in a single hogshead cask (ref #TWB1025) this stunning vintage whisky was distilled in 1990 on the Isle of Islay at Bunnahabhain Distillery. Thirty long years in cask before being bottled in 2021. As ever, our suitably flamboyant tasting notes give you a sense of what's in the bottle, but really we think enjoying this when Artemis 1 launches next year will provide the moment for this.
Nose: Cosmic barley fields, galactic stem ginger, clusters of lavender honey, pulsar of lemon zest and brown bread nebula.
Taste: Orbital barley sugars, ginger eclipse, lemon juice pulsars, hot chilli rocket fuel, honey starburst, solar salt and pepper.
Finish: Milk chocolate supernova, pink grapefruit dwarf and a cereal flyby.
Available to buy online only at TWB | The Whisky Barrel - Bunnahabhain Artemis® 30 Year Old 1990, 54.8% - The 1st Launch Edition.
