Bowmore

Whisky #525: Bowmore Straight From The Cask 2002 Signatory Vintage 12 Year Old Single Malt

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Bowmore Straight From The Cask 2002 Signatory Vintage 12 Year Old Single Malt. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 57.4%. Tasted at Whisky a Day HQ, $225 (500mL bottle).

Straight from a single cask of Bowmore whisky distilled on 2nd October 2002 and bottled 12 years later on 25th August 2015. Matured in an ex Sherry cask, it yielded an outturn of only 342 bottles at a natural cask strength of 57.4% ABV.

Colour: Bright golden caramel.

Nose: Golden syrup and soft sultanas, soft oak and a gentle dustiness and light smoke. My trusted whisky tasting lieutenant Kiwi also picked up hazelnuts.

Palate: Rich flavours of sticky date pudding, smokey treacle, raisins and dried cranberries.

Finish: Smoky; salted liquorice and oak, with a long salty fade.

Comments: Sometimes you feel like lashing out on a special whisky to commemorate a special event or to reflect on something significant in your life. Today was Day 1 of a big promotion at work, an opportunity to take a step up to an exciting new role. This Bowmore Straight From The Cask was the bottle I chose to mark the occasion.

This is the whisky you reach for when you’re in a reflective mood. When you’re deep in thought about something important in your life and you just lean back to have a quiet moment to reflect. The celebration of a significant accomplishment; the anguish of disappointing someone you love – or anything on the spectrum in between.

And when reach to take another sip and your thoughts drift back to the whisky at hand, you realise there’s so much to appreciate in this drop. This is a real thinker’s whisky.

Whisky #473: Bowmore Tempest Small Batch Release VI Cask Strength 10 Year Old Single Malt

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Bowmore Tempest Small Batch Release VI Cask Strength 10 Year Old Single Malt. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 54.9%. Tasted at home, $95 (bottle).

Colour: Polished brass.

Nose: Pineapple chunks and lemon sponge cake. Unobtrusive, quite soft. I’m almost searching for some smoke because I know it’s a Bowmore, but it’s really not there.

Palate: Sweet caramelised smokey notes hit you immediately; think barbecued pineapple slices on top of some smokey bacon. The heat builds and flavours seem to come in waves. Then again, maybe that’s just my head throbbing from another battering at work all week.

Finish: Some astringent salty notes with a long, tangy finish as the flavours fade.

Comments: This is a real “Friday night after a shithouse week at work” kind of whisky, a no-nonsense kind of dram. And one with something for most palates – it’s got some smoke and heat, some sweetness and tropical fruit flavours. Most importantly though, it’s strong enough that one dram will take the edge off your shitty week nicely as you kick up your feet at home. Though two or three drams will do the job just that wee bit better…

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I skeptically thought it may be a small batch release dreamt up by the Bowmore marketing department as an excuse to add another expression to the shelf. But it carves out its own niche among the Bowmore range. 

Whisky #457: Bowmore Darkest 15 Year Old Single Malt

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Bowmore Darkest 15 Year Old Single Malt. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 43%. Tasted at home, $23 (100mL bottle split).

As you can see, I’m clearly a big fan of Bowmore…

Colour: Rusty and dirrrrty.

Nose: Dried muscatels and old varnished timber furniture. Like walking into your grandparents’ house. A bit more time in the glass and I’m getting Black Forest Cake – all rich chocolate and cherries.

Palate: It’s a smooth entry, then sweet rich salted caramel flavours – like sucking on a hard toffee. Dark chocolate and cocoa notes too. Not very peaty at all, which is a nice surprise.

Finish: Juicy rich fruit cake, then drying out in the fade with some more cocoa.

Comments: It’s been an absolute scorcher of a day here in Sydney today, eastern Australia has been going through a heatwave. Fan forced whisky is the only way tonight. It’s important to keep well hydrated in such extreme weather conditions…

It’s been so hot any drink in a glass has simply been evaporating. Particularly tasty drinks like this Bowmore Darkest. It’s a no nonsense whisky, packing plenty of flavour and a slightly different take on the typical Bowmore style for the entry level expressions. It would’ve been interesting if it was a slightly higher ABV and a bit more syrupy, but on a hot night like tonight it’s absolutely fine just as it is.

Whisky #432: Bowmore 18 Year Old Single Malt

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img_7987.jpgBowmore 18 Year Old Single Malt. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 43%. Tasted at home, $185 (bottle).

As we near the end of Peat Week at Whisky a Day, we return to the centre of the peated universe – Islay – to savour the Bowmore 18.

Colour: Deep, sexy copper.

Nose: A delicate nose, yet lots of aromas. It has a rich, sweet smokiness – caramel, burnt toffee, and some faint smokey remnants of the campfire that was burning the night before.

Palate: Again a light smoke compared to many other Islay whiskies, which allows the other flavours to really dance on the tongue. Dried sultanas and raisins, freshly buttered fruit toast, rich treacle, dark chocolate with a high cocoa content (the ones so high the chocolate is quite earthy).

Finish: A long finish, with caramel fudge and some oaky tannins in the fade. The salty tang in the fade is subtle yet bookends some of the soft sweeter flavours tasted earlier.

Comments: The peat is more apparent in the finish on this whisky, enabling the enjoyment of so many other delicious flavours. It really is a layered, nuanced dram – one you can easily sit back and contemplate on. So easy to drink, even on a sunny spring afternoon like I’m doing right now. Recommended.

Peat Week! 7 Days of Peated Whisky

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img_7936.jpgIt’s Peat Week here at Whisky a Day! 7 days of peated whisky.

It’s been a rainy Sunday here in Sydney, one of those long lazy afternoons that you just don’t want to finish. Not because it’s been a particularly spectacular day, but mainly because it’s been a relaxing day that is soon to be cut short by the notion of heading back to work again tomorrow morning!

So with the last vestiges of cool weather lingering, I thought it the perfect excuse to have a peated dram. Which led me to think – bugger it, why not have a whole week of peated whisky? Exploring a few different styles of peated whisky?

To a lot of people, peated whisky equates to whisky from the island of Islay in Scotland. While there are many fine examples of peated whisky from Islay, I thought it would be interesting to also explore a few peated whiskies produced in other regions around Scotland as well as a little further afield.

So here’s this week’s lineup…

Some Australian whisky to start as we explore the peated range from Limeburners. Closely followed by the recently released (and much anticipated) Lagavulin 8 Year Old to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Lagavulin distillery. The Johnnie Walker Double Black then gets a call-up, highlighting that it’s not just single malts that get all the peat. Moving across to Speyside where we’ll dabble in some Glenrothes, followed by zipping back west to the Isle of Skye to sample the Talisker Storm. Then it’s back to the home of peaty whisky – Islay – for the Bowmore 18 Year Old, before finishing off the week in style with a very rare Port Ellen 30 Year Old bottled by Douglas Laing.

So strap in your tastebuds, slip into those comfy slippers and turn off the fire alarms…it could get a little smokey in here this week.

Whiskies #382-387: Scotch Malt Whisky Society Winter Tasting

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IMG_5554.JPGWhiskies #382-387: Scotch Malt Whisky Society Winter Tasting. Royal Automobile Club, Sydney. $85.

Since Whisky a Day only recently located from Perth to Sydney a month ago, the first SMWS tasting event was locked into the calendar. Excellently hosted by the SMWS Australian Cellar Master Andrew Derbidge, last night’s tasting was an overview of six of the Society’s latest releases.

Whisky #382: 64.54 Sweet and Tart, Subtle and Delicate. 10 year old bottling from Mannochmore Distillery. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 56.3%.

Colour: Pale straw.
Nose: Pine needles, wood chips, and sherbet.
Palate: Tangy lemon, peppery spice, with some cheesecake flavours to round off.
Finish: White pepper with a long, salty tingle and generous warmth around the mouth. Like the sensation of sucking the lemon after you’ve just downed a shot of good tequila. The oily warmth lingers longer than the flavours, but in a comforting way.

Whisky #383: 35.133 Mediterranean Maharaja goes Americana. 20 year old bottling from Glen Moray Distillery. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 55.8%.

Colour: Rich honey.
Nose: It’s a very bourbon-ish nose which hits you immediately. Fennel and spiced mead; sweet oaky notes with some time in the glass.
Palate: Spiced honey, cocoa, sultanas and spiced fruit toast.
Finish: Quite a short, drying finish with some savoury biscuit notes.

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Whisky #384: 46.25 Soft, Elegant and Intensely Creamy. 21 year old bottling from Glenlossie Distillery. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 46.4%.

Colour: Pale apple juice.
Nose: Fresh apples in a wet hessian sack. Ok, so I got fresh apples and I separately got some wet hessian notes, but seeing as the tasting was being conducted in the Royal Automobile Club where anoraks abound, I thought I’d better combine the two descriptors and really turn the wankiness up to 11. My eminent whisky tasting neighbour Dave picked up notes like walking past a makeup counter through a department store.
Palate: Baked pears, some sweet caramelised flavours too. A cool, creamy mouthfeel; reminds me of fruit salad atop a freshly baked pavlova.
Finish: Passionfruit syrup and vanilla ice-cream. Very light and delicate.
Comments: This was my favourite whisky if the night. Quite a low ABV for a cask strength bottling, but it’s just so easy to drink and keeps begging you back for more. So much so that I ordered a bottle so I could do precisely that.

Whisky #385: 119.14 Raspberry Imperial Stout. 11 year old bottling from Yamazaki Distillery. Japan. ABV: 53.9%.

Colour: Wow. Deep rich toffee. I started enjoying this one long before I picked up the glass.
Nose: It’s a huge sherry bomb, simply divine. It reminds me a lot of the nose you get from some Glendronach malts, particularly the Glendronach Allardice 18 year old and Glendronach 21 year old. Though it’s more intense and syrupy than you’ll find say on the Glendronach 15 year old.
Palate: Syrupy Christmas cake spice, oily mouthfeel. Yes that sounds quite stereotypical for a malt matured in ex sherry casks, but boy is this a fine example of the style. An amazing drop. Some dark chocolate and cherry notes come through too.
Finish: Paradoxically for a syrupy whisky, the finish is quite drying. Huge legs on the glass.
Comments: In a blind tasting, I would have picked this to be a Speyside malt as it is a fine example of the sherried malts so often produced from that region. Yamazaki have done brilliant work with this one.

Whisky #386: 66.66 Ginger Makes Fred Smile. 10 year old bottling from Ardmore Distillery. Highlands, Scotland. ABV: 61.9%.

Colour: Pale translucent copper; almost a rosey tinge.
Nose: Flame grilled steak, salted caramel and smoked salmon.
Palate: Smoked ham hock and beef jerky. It’s smokey with a hint of fruity sweetness; reminds me of a slice of juicy pineapple on the BBQ.
Finish: Super long and sumptuous.
Comments: Matured in a first fill white wine hogshead, which is both quite unusual but also an amazing choice for this malt. I enjoyed it so much I ordered a bottle on the spot.

Whisky #387: 3.234 Scallops Cooked on a Puffer Shovel. 16 year old bottling from Bowmore Distillery. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 57.5%.

Colour: Pure gold.
Nose: Caramel popcorn is the first thing that hits. Orange chocolate and soft straw notes too – like a handful of straw thrown on a campfire.
Palate: Salty blackcurrant pastilles and caramelised bacon. Hmmm, bacon… *drool*.
Finish: A building meaty saltiness with a very long, mouthwatering finish.
Comments: An Islay malt from Bowmore that has been perfectly matched to a refill sherry butt to produce those delicious caramelised meaty flavours. Though I think the nose is the winner here, simply divine. Some would say that there’s lots of smoke here both on the nose and on the palate, and they’d be 100% right…for me the smoke is there in droves, but it somehow takes a back seat to the amazing array of other flavours and aromas that are layered here.

Whisky #196 – Bowmore 12 Year Old Single Malt

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IMG_3522Bowmore 12 Year Old Single Malt. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 40.00%. Tasted at home, $70 (bottle).

Colour: Amber; a touch darker than the Bowmore Legend.

Nose: There’s a fair bit of smoke here as you would expect, but it’s not quite as raw or intense as the Legend.

Palate: It tastes a little like dusty bookshelves smell, if that makes sense. I haven’t personally tried to eat a dusty bookshelf, but the taste here is reminiscent of that smell. Earthy yet with plenty of soft smokey peat.

Finish: Smoother than the Legend and the finish seems a fraction shorter too. It’s still quite a long fade, especially the gentle heat.

Comments: The Bowmore 12 and Bowmore Legend are quite similar, but the 12 year old is a bit softer and well rounded; the Legend a little less refined.

Whisky #145 – SMWS 3.194 Surf and Turf BBQ

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IMG_2988SMWS 3.194 Surf and Turf BBQ. 14 year old single cask from Bowmore distillery. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 58.3%. Tasted at home, 100mL tasting bottle as part of SMWS new members’ welcome pack.

Colour: Deep, brilliant, burnished copper. So bright.

Nose: Strong alcohol fumes abound. Slowly dissipating with some time in the glass to reveal some toffee, butter & burnt orange scents. A hint of smoke too.

Palate: Freshly ground black pepper. Chewy; very meaty, with a smokey almost charcoal taste. It really does taste a little similar to a steak flame cooked on a BBQ.

Finish: Salty smoked aftertaste, long finish.

Comments: I not picking up the seafood flavours that the SWMS abundantly describe, but the meaty BBQ flavours are definitely there. Wow. Not your typic Islay – the smoke is ever-present but it takes a back seat to the complex flavour profile. Really enjoying this one! In fact I’m really loving the Scotch Malt Whisky Society releases generally; they’re all unique, full flavoured and offer huge amounts of character that gradually reveal more layers with every sip.

Whiskies #106-115: Scotch Malt Whisky Society Autumn Tasting Extravaganza

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Scotch Malt Whisky Society Autumn Tasting Extravaganza. Parmelia Hilton, $70.

I joined the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) at the start of the year for a few main reasons. Firstly, as another way to expand my whisky horizons and give me exposure to a range of unusual whiskies that I hadn’t heard much about (much less seen available to buy anywhere). A good way to really start to rack up the number of different malts that I knew I’d need to successfully complete the Whisky a Day challenge.

Secondly, I was intrigued by this mysterious “society” – would they have a secret handshake? Would it be a stuffy old man’s club where everyone stands around twirling their moustache and wearing a tweed jacket? As it turns out, no – they’re just a bunch of friendly folks who are really into their whisky. A huge range of ages and mix of guys and girls, everyone is really down to earth and passionate about tasting and talking about whisky.

IMG_2825Anyway, a crash course in the SMWS. They do their own bottlings, whereby they go to a distillery and choose a single cask from which they produce a limited run (e.g. ~200 bottles) of a unique malt. The whisky is given a numerical code, denoting the distillery and the individual cask. For example, whisky “96.7” below identifies it as being from distillery number 96, and it is the 7th single cask bottling the SMWS has released from this distillery. They’ve also got some quirky tasting notes on the label to describe the flavours and aromas that the SMWS tasting panel has come up with.

So onto the tastings. The standout favourite of the day for me was “121.65 – A Well-Oiled Baseball Glove”. As with my experience at Whisky Live 2014, I didn’t want to spend the whole evening furiously making tasting notes. Tasting 10 whiskies in all, I kept the notes to a minimum and simply enjoyed the experience. If you are intrigued and want to know more about a particular whisky you’ll just have to join the SMWS and try it for yourself!

96.7 – For a Sweet Tooth. 7 year old SMWS bottling from Glendronach Distillery. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 59.3%.

Very pale colour.  Chewy toffee on the nose. Not as sweet as I was expecting given the description on the label. Warmth builds & slowly fills the mouth.

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3.218 – Opening the Bonnet of a Classic Car. 13 year old SMWS bottling from Bowmore Distillery. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 55.8%.

Apple juice in colour. The nose is smokey, but subtler than other Islays. Palate is meaty with hint of sweetness, like a seared steak.

 

 

IMG_2828131.2 – Magic Carpet in a Sweetie Shop. 

13 year old SMWS bottling from Hanyu Distillery. Chichibu, Japan. ABV: 55.1%.

Looks more like a port, beautiful colour. Initial scents reminded me of firecrackers, turns out it has a few hints of an Islay dram. Lots of spice, hint of smoke, quite full bodied, sweet notes abound. Medium length.

 

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73.62 – Magical, Mellifluous Marvelosity.

24 year old SMWS bottling from Aultmore Distillery. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 57.8%.

Looks like a botrytis semillon in colour, the legs on the glass also give away the relatively high ABV. Heat & peat on the palate, warmth lingers.

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28.24 – Curiouser and Curiouser.

23 year old SMWS bottling from Tullibardine Distillery. Highlands, Scotland. ABV: 52.2%.

Pale gold. Musty. Like an old book. Bourbon like flavours, gentle. Smooth. Medium finish.

 

 

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93.58 – A Manly Adventure.

14 year old SMWS bottling from Glen Scotia Distillery. Campbeltown, Scotland. ABV: 60.4%.

Crisp clear straw colour. The nose gives pork spit roast on an open fire. Band aids. Meaty, very chewy. Kind of whisky to put hairs on your chest. Smoke builds, lips tingle long after.

 

 

IMG_283537.55 – Surprising Smoky and Savoury.

12 year old SMWS bottling from Cragganmore Distillery. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 56.6%.

Really pale straw. Surprisingly smokey for a Speyside – only then did I realise the SMWS name was “surprisingly smokey”.

 

 

 

IMG_2836121.65 – A Well-Oiled Baseball Glove.

14 year old SMWS bottling from Isle of Arran Distillery. Isle of Arran, Scotland. ABV: 58.3%.

Deep copper. Wow – like it. Muscat notes, it is leathery – the title of this one really is on the money. Like a salted caramel dessert – salty but a sweet aftertaste. Delicious – definitely my favourite dram of the day.

 

 

53.198 – Wasabi on a California Roll. IMG_2837

18 year old SMWS bottling from Caol Ila Distillery. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 59.1%.

Like opening a tin of smoked mussels or anchovies. Nice. Smokey, but almost a bit of a metallic aftertaste.

 

 

 

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29.145 – Innocent Embrace of Sweetness and Smoke.

22 year old SMWS bottling from Laphroaig Distillery. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 45.3%.

Straw colour. One of the lightest Islays I’ve nosed in terms of smoke. Sweet almost cool smokey sensation on the tongue. Quite unusual, but nice.

 

 

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Whisky #87 – Bowmore Legend Single Malt

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IMG_2743Bowmore Legend Single Malt. Islay, Scotland. ABV: 40.00%. Tasted at my place, $0 – courtesy of my mate Gordy.

Colour: Brilliant gold.

Nose: Peat, lots of peat and band-aids.

Palate: Oily mouthfeel, but quickly dries. Clean entry, briny.

Finish: Peppery smoke & heat gradually fills the mouth, medium length flavour, warmth hangs around a little longer.

Comments: Gordy, much like the whisky – legend! Overall though it’s a solid Islay dram, nothing too out of the box though.