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Monday's Bowmore was aged in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. Today's was aged in a refill ex-sherry
Distillery: Bowmore
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Retailer: K&L Wines
Retailer: K&L Wines
Age: at least 12 years (September 2001 - July 2014)
Maturation: refill ex-sherry butt
Cask number: 1371
Bottle count: 565
Region: Islay, Scotland
Cask number: 1371
Bottle count: 565
Region: Islay, Scotland
Alcohol by Volume: 59.1%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No
(Thanks to Florin for the sample!)
NEAT
Its color is gold. The nose begins with a mild plum wine-like sherry note that dovetails with a strong mineral (lots of rocks) character. A campfire the following morning. Clover honey, oranges, and again more plums than prunes. After some time in the glass, there's a little note of struck matches but it's just a hint, a seasoning. Lots of charred meat with a honey glaze in the palate. Honey pepper sauce. It's a sweet sherry but not cloyingly so. A vibrant sugar→peat smoke→sugar→cayenne pepper progression. Great thick mouthfeel. The moderate length finish is a little ocean-y. Then there's the honey, pepper, and peat.
WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose seems peatier now, almost hotter too. Still a very well integrated peat + sherry combo. Maybe some more nuts now, hazelnuts and walnuts. Orange zest and cinnamon. That hint of sulphur. Moss and char in the palate. Salt, pepper, and honey. Some peppery bitter lettuces. Less sweet now, still well balanced. The sweetness also calms down in the finish. The smoke note builds with time, as does the black pepper note.
Richer and more complex than Monday's Bowmore, this might have a better peat and sherry combo than the current iteration of Ardbeg's Uigeadail. Of course Oogy is engineered using hundreds of casks while this is just a single cask, so they're very different whiskies.
Unless my sherry receptors were hyperactive during this tasting, this refill sherry cask feels like a first fill.Perhaps that's due to how much smaller a hogshead is than a sherry butt [Ed. note: this was actually a sherry butt]. Yet the sherry hasn't smothered the spirit; and the spirit hasn't overwhelmed the cask. The parts work very well together. And now I wonder what they did with the cask after the whisky was dumped. Fill it with Bowmore spirit? Or another Islay? Or maybe toss a fruity Speyside in there to create something fun?
In any case, another great cask from Signatory, one of my favorite bottlers. This whisky is on sale at K&L via their Insider's Advantage program. As of mid-July there are a number of cases of this stuff left. I might just pick up a bottle.
Availability - K&L Wines only
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No
(Thanks to Florin for the sample!)
NEAT
Its color is gold. The nose begins with a mild plum wine-like sherry note that dovetails with a strong mineral (lots of rocks) character. A campfire the following morning. Clover honey, oranges, and again more plums than prunes. After some time in the glass, there's a little note of struck matches but it's just a hint, a seasoning. Lots of charred meat with a honey glaze in the palate. Honey pepper sauce. It's a sweet sherry but not cloyingly so. A vibrant sugar→peat smoke→sugar→cayenne pepper progression. Great thick mouthfeel. The moderate length finish is a little ocean-y. Then there's the honey, pepper, and peat.
WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose seems peatier now, almost hotter too. Still a very well integrated peat + sherry combo. Maybe some more nuts now, hazelnuts and walnuts. Orange zest and cinnamon. That hint of sulphur. Moss and char in the palate. Salt, pepper, and honey. Some peppery bitter lettuces. Less sweet now, still well balanced. The sweetness also calms down in the finish. The smoke note builds with time, as does the black pepper note.
Richer and more complex than Monday's Bowmore, this might have a better peat and sherry combo than the current iteration of Ardbeg's Uigeadail. Of course Oogy is engineered using hundreds of casks while this is just a single cask, so they're very different whiskies.
Unless my sherry receptors were hyperactive during this tasting, this refill sherry cask feels like a first fill.
In any case, another great cask from Signatory, one of my favorite bottlers. This whisky is on sale at K&L via their Insider's Advantage program. As of mid-July there are a number of cases of this stuff left. I might just pick up a bottle.
Availability - K&L Wines only
Pricing - $79.99 if you're signed up for their Insider's Advantage
Rating - 89
Given that a hogshead is roughly half the volume of a sherry butt, the surface area:volume ratio is going to be much, much higher.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was my thought about it too. I liked the result in this case.
DeleteDon't know the cask number or the bottle number. The bottle didn't last long open (12 days), and your sample was saved at the last moment and required a great deal of restraint on my part. So whether to call this sample as "bottom of the bottle" or "soon after opening the bottle", I leave that up to you. Here were my comments:
ReplyDelete"Great whisky, very grungy, peaty, farmy, sweet, with Bowmore's floral profile. Not viscous enough to make it a monster or to get it into the 4* range. Very easy drinking! 3.8* " - that would be 88 on your scale.
I'll surely get another bottle!
Based on your photo the cask number is 157 or 167.
DeleteThank you for the sample! Very good stuff, I concur. The photo resolution is a little low, but if I get a bottle soon, I'll put the cask info up.
DeleteThe cask number is 1371 and it was 565 bottles from a refill sherry butt, not hogshead. I'm finishing up my notes on it right now--I liked it too, though not as much, but got some different stuff (far more sulphur, for example).
ReplyDeleteYou're correct on all of this. Where the hell did I get the idea that it was a hogshead? I even have my own bottle and didn't update this. I'll update it now. Thanks.
Delete