Bunnahabhain Antique Lions of Whisky 1989 28y

Found a sample of this in Sample Cupboard of No Shortage, and I couldn't resist trying the oldest Bunnahabhain to date (for me). The standard 25 year old is a magnificent whisky, so what could go wrong with three more years? I've never heard of the bottler Antique Lions of Whisky either, at least the label on the full bottle is beautiful. This is part of the "Butterflies" series, by the way. Also - I've never had a Bunnahabhain with an ABV this low, so what's up with that? Someone made the decision to bottle this at 41.3%, so I'll try not to judge the dram by the strength (or lack thereof).

I really really wanted this to not suffer from a low ABV, as it's a cliché I personally dislike when reviewers misuse. It's far too easy to dismiss a whisky because it's close to 40%, and a lot of times it just seems lazy. But here we are - this starts off very nicely but then falls short. There's not much happening, and the whole thing just feels watered down. I'm confident that I would never put this at 28 years old sherried whisky if done blind - more like a standard 12 year old entry range bottling from a bourbon cask. What a waste. That might not be the ABV's fault alone, of course. Could be a bad sample, could be a bad day for me. Anyway - decent, but not much more.