Bowmore 16 year old 1997 SMWS 3.217

After reviewing four bourbon cask Bowmores, I am hopping over to four sherry cask Bowmores for the remainder of the Mondays and Wednesdays this month. Today's indie Bowmore was bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), a club that would have someone like me for a member, so I'd rather not belong.

Like all SMWS whiskies, this one was given its own "funny" name: A delicatessen shopping basket. That sounds promising...

Distillery: Bowmore

Region: Islay

Independent Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
"Funny" name: A delicatessen shopping basket
Age: 16 years (September 25, 1997 - 2014)
Maturation: refill sherry butt
Cask#: 3.217
Bottles: 609
Alcohol by Volume: 55.6%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
(Thanks to Brett for the sample!)

NEAT
The nose shows off mangoes, ginger, dried cherries, molasses cookies, concrete and chimney smoke. With time it picks up notes of toffee pudding, prunes, roasted corn and a hint of classic peat smoke. The palate is less complex than the nose, almost monolithic. Big peppery char. Sugared grapey notes, as if someone peat infused a sweet sherry. Agave nectar and eucalyptus leaves. Lots of heat. The long finish holds lots of sweetness and peatness. Black pepper, arugula and ethyl heat.

The nose works, but the palate seems closed. Time for serious dilution.

DILUTED TO 44.5%abv, or 1½ tsp water per 30mL whisky
And the eggy sulphur comes rolling into the nose. Some milk chocolate and ginger too. The palate is intensely peppery and hot and sulphuric. With a side of sour candy. It finishes sweet and peppery.

Uch. Maybe some more water?

DILUTED TO 40%abv, or 2⅓ tsp water per 30mL whisky
The nose is cleaner, more herbal. Whiffs of apricots, pool chlorine and tar. The palate is cleaner and weaker, but some sulphur remains. Bitter, herbal and sweet, but out of balance, like a messed up cocktail. The finish is similar to the palate but much sweeter.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
At first you think this "delicatessen shopping basket" is actually a sherry-coated locked treasure chest that can only be opened by adding water. So you add water. And the box opens. And ZOMG IT'S SATAN! So you add more water to kill the beast and in the process the whisky drowns as well. And then you wonder what the hell kind of deli does the SMWS-naming guy shop at, because damn.

So the whisky is best when neat, where it smells fantastic and tastes......satisfactory. Perhaps it will appeal more to you sherry faces out there. To me, the nose sets up expectations of complexity and beauty that go entirely unfulfilled. And it swims so poorly that I have to knock the rating down additional points.

Availability - Nope
Pricing - not sure, though I believe it was north of $150
Rating - 80

Glen Ord 18 year old 1997 Montgomerie's

When the proprietor of famed food blog, My Annoying Opinions, offered up a bottle split of indie Glen Ord, I couldn't resist. Montgomerie's, one of Angus Dundee's labels, has entered the US market via Total Wine & More almost exclusively. I enjoyed their 1995 Ben Nevis last year, as it balanced BN's weird + fruit quite well.

It's also nice to see a Glen Ord come through our market. Ords with this high of an age statement are also scarce in the rest of the world. I like the Ord, as does MAO. So we're doing a simultaneous review of this whisky today. Here’s his opinion. Here's my opinion:

Distillery: Glen Ord
Region: Highlands (Northern)

Independent Bottler: Montgomerie's (via Angus Dundee)

Age: 18 years old (1997-2015)

Maturation: probably a refill ex-bourbon cask
Cask: 800002

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chill-filtered? No
Caramel colored? No
(from a bottle split)

NEAT
Its color is nearly, well, colorless. Very pale. The nose has barley, sour apple candy and lime zest. Stones and ocean air. Amaretto and fresh apricots. The palate has a zesty lemons+chiles+honey combo. Also, whipped cream, oranges and roasted malt. The finish is very long and zippy, with limes, peppery heat and fresh apples.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv, or a little less than 1 tsp water per 30mL whisky
The whisky gets cloudy quickly. A good sign! The nose is very similar to the neat version. The apples are more fruity than candied now. More of an earthy note too. Maybe a hint of soap. The palate has gotten a little sweeter. Also, some tart limes and lemon juice. More apples, limes and lemons in the finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I can't say this is the most complex thing, but it's crisp as a casual drinker. The lack of intrusive oak is much appreciated, as the mature perky fruity malty spirit gets the spotlight. It's fine while diluted, though 46%abv seems to be a great spot.

I'd love to see more 18 year old (non-Singleton) Glen Ords. Will I have to wait another decade when the distillery's massive production gets the better of it?

Availability - Total Wine & More (and maybe a few other retailers in Minnesota)
Pricing - $100
Rating - 86

Bowmore 15 year old 1997 Anam na h-Alba

The fourth of eight indie Bowmore reviews this month, this Anam na h-Alba release is the last of the bourbon cask releases from this group. The four Bowmores that follow are all from sherry casks, I think.

Don't have much else to say about this whisky other that it was well loved by all the voters on whiskybase, except for Cobo from whose bottle this sample came, this sample that has been sitting in the stash for more than three years. It's time to free it!

Distillery: Bowmore

Independent Bottler: Anam na h-Alba
Series: The Soul of Scotland
Region: Islay, Scotland

Age: 15 years old (June 2, 1997 - July 18, 2012)

Maturation: ex-bourbon hogshead
Bottles: 77
Alcohol by Volume: 52.8%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
(Thanks to Cobo for the sample!)

NEAT
The nose begins with wet leaves and fresh in-season peaches. Vibrant sugary green peat, as well as sooty smoke. Burlap, cinnamon, honey and clementines. The palate has mild citrus and lots of soot. Bitter chocolate, horseradish, soil and a mild sweetness. It gets sootier and sweeter with time. The warm and lightly bitter finish has an ethyl sting to it. Lime juice and simple peat.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or a little less than 1 tsp water per 30mL whisky
Water does the nose no favors. It washes away nearly everything, leaving behind only hints of earth, moss, lychees and apples. The palate gets more acidic, with generic citrus. Quiet notes of soot, pears and sugar. It finishes salty and sweet, with oranges and pears.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
It's a shame the palate fell so short of the excellent nose, because this would have been one hell of a whisky. In fact, it all starts so well with the first sniff and then propels downhill from there, finishing quickly and quietly. Overall, it's a decent drink but it leaves me thinking only of what it could have been. Because this was a micro-release from almost five years ago, I'm not sure if this review is relevant to anyone. BUT if this whisky sits on your shelf, don't waste any water on it once the bottle is opened!

Availability - Not
Pricing - 'twas €65
Rating - 84 (neat only)

Bowmore 17 year old 1996 First Editions

Like last Wednesday's Bowmore, here's another 17yo distilled in 1996 and bottled by an independent company. And it's another bottle that I recently split with Jordan of Chemistry of the Cocktail. For this review, I tasted the two Bowmores side by side to get a better perspective of each.

Unlike my experiences with AD Rattray, First Editions whiskies have always underwhelmed me. Of course, I've tried a grand total of four before this year, but I wanted to give them one last good try before adding them to my Meh List. So, basically, it's all riding on this.

Distillery: Bowmore

Independent Bottler: Hunter Laing
Series: First Editions
Region: Islay, Scotland

Age: 17 year old (1996-2013)

Maturation: ex-bourbon cask
Bottle: 155 of 266
Alcohol by Volume: 52.8%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
(from a bottle split)

NEAT
This is gentler on the nose than the Rattray cask, right up front. There's brown sugar, green veg, lots of toasted barley and ocean-y peat. It shifts a little bit with time, turning up notes of barn, cherry candy and vanilla. The palate starts off "super mineral". Early notes are salt, lemons, grass, mint leaves. After some time it opens up, revealing hints of fresh stone fruit, peach candy and blackberry syrup. The long finish is simple but pleasant and tingly. It's lightly sweet with some of the late palate's fruit and mineral notes. The peat reads more salty than smoky.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or a little less than 1 tsp water per 30mL whisky
The nose is now full of mint, honeydew and grass. Some vanilla bean, brown sugar and mild peat smoke. The palate is similar to the neat version. More on sweets, ginger and lime candy. Less on minerals. The finish is also sweeter with much less peat. The lime candy note shows up here too.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I can't believe I'm typing this, but I liked the First Editions Bowmore more than the AD Rattray cask. There's more fruit in this one and just the right amount of oak. Both had a good dosage of mineral notes, but this one feels more balanced. The peat is more consistent here as well. The Rattray cask offers more raw spirit and violence, which is why that one needs water. The First Editions Bowmore feels more mature, and works with or without dilution. Plus, it's $30 cheaper. So, it's a win for First Editions.

Availability - Just a few US retailers
Pricing - $130-$150
Rating - 87

Killing Whisky History, Episode 11 - Famous Grouse (x3!) bottled in 1970s and 1990s

Killing Whisky History returns to Scotch whisky for the first time in four months with...


...a little history, a little bottle analysis and a little drinky of three Highland Distillers-era Famous Grouse. Watch at work! Watch at home! Either way, you can watch while sitting on the toilet. And drinking along. You won't be drinking alone.

Also, if you know additional info about Highland Distillers's early laser bottle codes, please feel free to share in the comments here or on YooToob. The codes here are: L829M and L12840L. Thanks!

Bowmore 17 year old 1996 AD Rattray, cask 960057

I started this April of Indie Bowmore on Monday. You may have missed the 1989 Liquid Sun review since it was hiding beneath my FWP bit.

As I've previously written, I always keep a lookout for AD Rattray's Bowmores. AD Rattray (aka Dewar Rattray) is owned by the Morrison family. Yes, those are the same Morrisons of the former Morrison Bowmore company. Just FYI.

I loved Rattray's cask 960034 (a 18yo from 1996) even though it was pricey. For today's Bowmore —cask 960057 — I was lucky to do a bottle split with Jordan of Chemistry of the Cocktail. That helped keep the cost down for us since we also split another 17yo 1996 Bowmore, which will be reviewed next week. Many thank yous go out to Jordan who made it happen.

Distillery: Bowmore

Independent Bottler: A.D. Rattray
Region: Islay, Scotland

Age: 17 years (March 27, 1996 - August 15, 2013)

Maturation: hogshead
Cask number: 960057
Bottle count: 292

Alcohol by Volume: 54.7%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No
(From a bottle split)

NEAT
Farmy! says the nose. But it also comes crashing in with almost sulphuric peat smoke. And butter. The good news is that after 20+ minutes the latter two notes fade into the far background. Now there's very little alcohol heat. But there is black licorice, grassy Orkney-esque(!) peat and polenta.

Ah, here's the fruit, in the palate, more white than stone, and mostly subtle. Mint leaves and cinnamon. Lightly sweet, but very mineral peat.

It finishes minty and tingly. A hint of the palate's fruit. The peat reads the mildest here, though it gets ashier with time.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or a little more than 1 tsp water for 30mL whisky
The nose remains farmy, but now it also has an herbal side. Lemon zest and sugar syrup perk it up.

The palate has a good balance of herbal bitterness and candy sweetness. Plenty of peat throughout, along with some cooling mint.

The mint remains in the finish, which is sweeter than the neat version. The peat lightens up, but the overall length remains the same.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Though water reduces the whisky's complexity, it also pulls everything together, cleaning up a bit of a mess. The peat acts as chameleon through, taking on different colors and forms. In my opinion, this could use more fruit. But the nose's farminess is just right. Overall, this Bowmore performed better during the tasting than I'd expected, as I was underwhelmed during the first few casual glasses this winter. It's not in the top tier of Rattray's Bowmores, but it's still a lot better than what most other companies have to offer from their Bowmore stash. Still, I might dilute the remainder of my split to 46%abv...

Availability - Probably 99% sold out
Pricing - Somewhere between $160-$180
Rating - 85 (with water)

Let FWP Die, also a 1989 Bowmore review

photo source

Though I am among those who have used the term "French Whore Perfume" to describe the characteristics of 1980s Bowmore, I would like to entreat everyone to bury the term altogether.

Aside from it having become lazy shorthand utilized by no one who has met une prostituée française, the term leaves every Gallic streetwalker pondering, "Why am I getting stigmatized? The real problematic odor is French John Sweaty Ass (aka FJSA)." I mean, we poets haven't labelled the Bowmore problem Violets, Soap And Failure, have we? No, we're saying the whisky smells like something a female sex worker wears to cover up the scent of previous customers so that she can be sexually alluring for the next man. Yet we're using a word that has long been separated from its denotation, and now has merged with its connotation, just like "slut".

Sure, worse words can be used to directly link whisky with women (and sexuality). But FWP goes there. And I'm publicly prodding this problem because I hope this boy's club of a Scotch community will think about this, if just for a sober moment, even as we're served by an industry that still struggles with the idea of gender equality amongst its potential customer base. You don't need to be woke to know that the words "French Whore Perfume" will age even worse than "The Jane Walker Special Edition".

I am happy to see FWP referenced less frequently than before, but we can thank the scarcity of those infamous Bowmores for that. So, my dudes, let us allow FWP to go the way of that crummy chapter of Bowmore's history. Let's let FWP die.

---

And now, a 1980s Bowmore.

Thank you to My Annoying Opinions (hey, he's not the only one with annoying opinions, you know) for the sample. I have no idea when we did this sample swap.

Distillery: Bowmore

Independent Bottler: The Whisky Agency
Series: Liquid Sun
Region: Islay, Scotland

Age: 22 years (1989 - 2011)

Maturation: bourbon hogshead
Bottle count: 256

Alcohol by Volume: 50.7%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No

NEAT
No Violets, Soap and Failure on this nose. It's a tree root ball, dense roots and soil wrapped up in burlap. Charred honeydew. Iodine and chalk. Lemonade powder. Clementines. A smoky nut brittle. The palate a light peat, almost mesquite (sorry for the rhyme). Burnt, mineral, with a perky zing. A tangy green note that I want to say is cactus, but probably isn't. A bit of agave nectar, but also añejo tequila. The charred melon comes back to the finish. A brisk bitterness meets soft peat smoke. Agave nectar and limey citrus.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv
The nose gets fruitier, like peaches and melons. Milder smoke. Wet ashes, wet sand. The palate is still very sharp, almost (here it comes) austere. Mineral, tart, salty, bitter. Chile peppers and a hint of smoke. Tangy citrus and chile peppers in the finish. Mild sweetness and smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
As if I haven't written enough words today.

This whisky noses and drinks very well at its modest full strength. The peat never dominates, nor does the fruit or minerals. That balance holds, and maybe even improves, with air. Nothing about it is a knockout, but it is very good multitasking whisky, especially when snow falls in April.

Availability - Probably sold out a half decade ago
Pricing - I think it sold for just a little bit over €100 back in the day
Rating - 87