This is one of the more exciting ones in the calendar I created. My scores of whisky that spent more time in wine casks than just a finishing have been quite high, and this is pretty hard to come by so I’m glad I was ordering when a sample was available.
Minutia: Matured for 13 years in ex-Bourbon barrels then transferred to former wine barriques for another 13 years.
Color: Brown Sherry, 1.9.
Nose: Fruity, floral smoke. Malty, nutty.
Taste: Thin, smoke, bit of heat builds slowly, as does fruit. The fruit doesn’t build so much as a weirdish flavor shifts into fruit over time.
Finish: Malty, nice smokiness and slight heat and must. Medium, with an intensity on the medium-short side.
Guess: Bowmore 9 Sherry cask.
With the 4 options left, I knew this was a Bowmore, but it was tough to say what. Was it so dark because of how old it was and how much time it was in a wine cask, or was it young and overly colored? Was it thin because it was 40%, or because age had reduced and tempered the ethanol? It was mostly a toss-up, but I guessed the younger one due to the mouthfeel. This is pretty good, but a bit weird, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Not quite worth what it costs, though. Maybe at MSRP, whatever that was, but not aftermarket prices if they’re far above normal shelf price. Historically, I’ve really enjoyed wine casks, so I’m a bit surprised this one didn’t wow me, but it did perform a bit better than Bowmore’s 25 and is about the same age, so that lines up a bit. I think I’d have scored this higher if I knew what it was, so I’m glad this was in the blind group.
Score: 82
No comments:
Post a Comment