SMWS Bowmore 15/17 2004 Sister Cask Side by Side: 3.314 “Loungecore stave exoticism” & 3.324 “Split personality”

 

Continuing the trend of a sister cask side by side to mark a 25th review. This is one I’ve been looking forward to for a while. At least one of these has had fantastic reviews both on reddit and elsewhere. The other is just a bit older. Plus the Islay festival release this year was made up of casks from the same distillation and was excellent, though was a bit too expensive to warrant a bottle. Enough of that, let’s get to the whisky.

Bowmore 15, 2004 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 3.314, Islay Single Malt, 56.8% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 16, 2004, matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead for 14 years and finished in a 1st-fill STR barrique for a total 15 years aging yielding 246 bottles. This is part of the Lightly Peated flavor profile named “Loungecore stave exoticism” and was released for the Islay festival in 2020. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with its sister cask 3.324.

Color: Auburn, polished mahogany; 1.5.

Nose: Fruit, toffee, carfamel, fruity, musty, all under an earthy, smoky “cloud.”

Taste: The nose sells it well. More emphasis on the fruit and must.

Finish: Charred wood, citrus peeks in a bit. Medium-long.

Superb.

Score: 90

Musical Evocation: Volbeat – “I Only Wanna Be With You”

Bowmore 17, 2004 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 3.324, Islay Single Malt, 56% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 16, 2004, matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead for 14 years and finished in a 1st-fill STR barrique for a total 17 years aging yielding 251 bottles. This is part of the Lightly Peated flavor profile named “Split personality”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with its sister cask 3.314.

Color: Mahogany, henna notes; 1.6.

Nose: Similar to the other. It’s a bit punchier like vinegar (not in a bad way at all, just a slight nostril sting that you get from it), and it’s a bit industrial akin to Longrow.

Taste: Again much like what the nose promises, but adding some heat.

Finish: It drops off right away before working its way back. Chocolate-ish, salty (slight), musty and ashy. Medium-short.

Wow.

Score: 91

Musical Evocation: Tragedy – “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”

I decided my post-review commentary for each would just be the single word I wrote describing my overall impression and let that stand on its own. These are excellent. Very similar, yet different. 3.314 made me upset I waited this long to open it. 3.324 made me upset I passed on other sister casks. These are right up my ally, and are prime examples of the high regard people have for Bowmore IBs. With the blind Advent calendar starting tomorrow, it made me think about it a bit, and the 3.324, blind, I’d guess Longrow or Springbank. It’s hard to imagine a better pair to send me off into the Advent calendar full of hype and love for whisky.

SMWS Glen Scotia 17 2002 Sister Cask Side by Side: 93.128 “Smoke and smugglers” & 93.144 "Sea salt on chestnuts”/“Not Just Coastal" (Skotchtoberfest #s 1A & 1B)

Nearly all of my experience with Glen Scotia has been through the SMWS, and they’ve yet to disappoint. I bought one at a tasting a few months ago that I simply couldn’t believe was a Glen Scotia it was so unbelievably dirty. The first of these I grabbed one they released it for the festival season, and the other was just a delicious sounding whisky that happened to be a sister cask so it got paired with that for review. Here we go.

Glen Scotia 17, 2002 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 93.128, Campbeltown Single Malt, 54.9% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on May 6, 2002 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 17 years yielding 213 bottles. This is part of the Oily & Coastal flavor profile named “Smoke and smugglers” released for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2020. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with its sister cask 93.144.

Color: Amontillado Sherry; 0.9.

Nose: Smoky, malt and vanilla try to peek through. Industrial, brine, wood.

Taste: Sweet, spicy fruits, medicinal smoke. Orange.

Finish: Wood and smoke.

The flavor caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting a sweetness as intense as it was, particularly after the nose. This all comes together really nicely and is definitely a bottle worthy of a festival label.

Score: 88

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Glen Scotia 17, 2002 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 93.144, Campbeltown Single Malt, 56.3% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on May 6, 2002 and matured in a 2nd-fill ex-bourbon barrel for 17 years yielding 199 bottles. This is part of the Lightly Peated flavor profile named “Not Just Coastal/Sea salt on chestnuts” the former title being the name given in the US due to labeling restrictions. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with its sister cask 93.128.

Color: Deep copper; 1.0.

Nose: Different; lighter but somehow heavier. Behind a light fruit lie rich tobacco and leather that draw you in. Very enticing.

Taste: Spicy, cereals, smoke, compote.

Finish: Very rich smoke, tobacco, leather, musty fruit. What a showstopper. Long.

Holy smokes, what a crazy finish. It’s just stellar and keeps on going. This reminds me of my favorite parts of some absolutely excellent whiskies that command a higher price for much less aging. 

Score: 89

Musical Evocation: Linkin Park – “Given Up”

I’m very glad to be caught up with my typing and embarking on the “Skotchtoberfest” reviews, and what a kickoff. I think I may be tasting the finish from 93.144 throughout the season.

The Peat Faerie, Jr.

One of the earlier blended batches from the SMWS, this one takes after the prior one with slightly less age.

The Peat Faerie, Jr., 7, 2010 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society Blended Batch 04, Scotland Blend, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in Speyside and Islay on October 12, 2010 and matured in 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrels for Error! Reference source not found. years yielding 2172 bottles. This is part of the Lightly Peated flavor profile named The Peat Faerie, Jr. I think the “Jr.” was added for the US bottling to help differentiate from its 10-year-old predecessor. This may be more familiar to some as simply a The Peat Faerie with a 7-year age statement instead of 10. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Yellow gold; 0.5.

Nose: An earthy smoke. A mustiness to it.

Taste: Nice, sweet. Smoke and spice come in. Herbal tea.

Finish: Fruit with peat and spice.

This isn’t anything incredible, but it’s a quality blend and was released at a decent enough price. 

Score: 80

Musical Evocation: Tuatha de Danann – “Faeryage”

Allt-A-Bhainne 7 2011 SMWS 108.14 "An enjoyable curiosity"

I bought this quite a while ago so don’t remember what I was hoping for with it, but I believe I was after more ‘farmy’ type notes when I purchased it. Also, it’s neat how with the SMWS you can get to try a single cask from a distillery that’s basically a blend component.

Allt-A-Bhainne 7, 2011 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 108.14, Speyside Single Malt, 66.2% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on November 1, 2011 and matured in a 2nd-fill ex-bourbon barrel for 7 years yielding 217 bottles. This is part of the Lightly Peated flavor profile named “An enjoyable curiosity”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Yellow gold; 0.5.

Nose: Bready, malty, yeasty, a bit of vanilla like a bread pudding. With water: root beer, toasted marshmallow.

Taste: Sweet, strong. Smoke and ash. With water: about the same.

Finish: Smoke, salty, bitter; a vague sense of a very concentrated dark chocolate with salt in it. Long. With water: the same.

This is nice, but hot. Water really improved the nose with some very interesting elements coming in there and at no real cost to the rest of the dram as can often happen.

Score: 81

Musical Evocation: After Forever – “Estranged (A Timeless Spell)”

SMWS Ardmore 13/14 2006 Side by Side, 66.162 "A true harmony of flavours" & 66.176 "Je suis bûcheron et je vais bien"

With how much I enjoyed doing a side by side review of sister casks to mark review #200, I decided to do the same for every milestone review. Based on the amount of sister casks pairs I have from the SMWS, I settled on doing that for every 25th review (with a more significant one for 250) except when one of those milestones would happen to fall during an Advent calendar. So here for #225 are a pair of Ardmores with similar maturations, but one for an additional year with a specification of the previous contents of the finishing cask.

Ardmore 13, 2006 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 66.162, Highland Single Malt, 60.8% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on March 9, 2006 and matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead for 12 years before transfer to a 2nd fill French oak barrique for the duration yielding 286 bottles. This is part of the Lightly Peated flavor profile named “A true harmony of flavours”. This was released to celebrate the highlands as part of their digital regional festivals of 2020 (or at least tagged as such while not actually featuring the festival label). Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister cask 66.176.

Color: Old gold amber, 0.6.5.

Nose: Smoke, putty, grass/hay.

Taste: Fruit, spice and banana, smoked meats.

Finish: Funky smoke, custard. Medium.

This is quite nice. Something interesting noted particularly during this review of these two whiskies is how different of an experience it is when sitting down and focusing on a review versus any of the drams enjoyed prior to the actual review. It’s hard to say which I like more, actually. I did not take specific notes about water. I did not care for it and do not feel this needs or benefits from it at all.

Score: 81

Musical Evocation: Iron Maiden – “Dream of Mirrors”

Ardmore 14, 2006 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 66.176, Highland Single Malt, 60.1% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on March 9, 2006 and matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead for 12 years before transfer to a 2nd fill red wine barrique for the duration yielding 264 bottles. This is part of the Lightly Peated flavor profile named “Je suis bûcheron et je vais bien”, a French name which in English means “I am a lumberjack and I am fine”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with its sister cask 66.162.

Color: Old gold amber, 0.6.5.

Nose: Industrial, beachy smoke. Dried stone fruit. Buttered popcorn on a later visit to the nose, and in a big way.

Taste: Molasses, light spice. Earthy.

Finish: Very similar to the taste, with the molasses being a bit more caramely and the spice feeling more like spiced red fruit.

Another good one, and a bit more interesting. Time in the glass works well for this one, it seems. As with the other, I did not take specific notes with water as I felt it didn’t add at all and I prefer it without on all counts.

Score: 81

Musical Evocation Iron Maiden – “Brave New World”

They got the same score, and it makes sense as I can’t really tell which I like more despite them being quite different yet broadly very similar. Anyway, this was an interesting foray into non-Islay/island peat, the only other Ardmore before these being the one bottled for r/Scotch a couple years ago.