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.

SMWS Ledaig 9/12/13 2008 Sister Cask Side by Side: 42.43 “Smoky spicy red rye ale”, 42.44 “Winter warmer”, 42.53 “Mull me(n)tal”, 42.60 “Sensationally sensual”, & 42.63 “Thirst aid kit”

 

The SMWS has recently had a fair amount of casks from Ledaig coming out recently, and I happened to have a couple others from years ago from the same distillation, so I decided to do the five of them side by side.

Ledaig 9, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.43, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 59.7% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead for 9 years and finished in a 1st-fill wine barrique charred and refitted with heavily toasted lids yielding 302 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Smoky spicy red rye ale”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.44, 42.53, 42.60, & 42.63.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.8

Nose: Burnty, musty, meat.

Taste: Smoky bacon, spiced fruit.

Finish: Smoky, a fruity wave of flavor right after swallowing, smoky toffee. Long.

Really awesome finish, very long. Overall a great dram.

Score: 92

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Ledaig 9, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.44, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 58.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 9 years yielding 232 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Winter warmer”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.43, 42.53, 42.60, & 42.63.

Color: Deep gold; 0.8.

Nose: Salty smoke, seafood. Industrial.

Taste: Custard, industrial and earthy.

Finish: Smoke, toffee (very crispy/almost burnt), burnt. Long.

A very interesting and fun dram. I did not expect something as light as custard to come in here, but it did.

Score: 87

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Ledaig 12, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.53, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 60.2% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 12 years yielding 303 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Mull me(n)tal”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.43, 42.44, 42.60, & 42.63.

Color: Jonquil, ripe corn; 0.4.

Nose: Salty smoked meat.

Taste: Some sweet; bitter vegetation; burny.

Finish: Salt, smoked meat. Long.

A solid dram with a very powerful finish.

Score: 86

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Ledaig 12, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.60, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 59.4% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 12 years yielding 162 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Sensationally sensual”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.43, 42.44, 42.53, & 42.63.

Color: Pale gold; 0.3.

Nose: It took a while to figure out what it was, and it was tough to do without consider what it was like relative to the changes in the nose. It went from grilled seafood to beachy tar to light smoked fruit. Really interesting.

Taste: Light fruit. Peppery malt. Spice.

Finish: Light smoke and malt after a peppery start. Long.

For something like a Ledaig, this was surprisingly delicate, and a fun dram to have.

Score: 87

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Ledaig 13, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.63, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 58.3% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 13 years yielding 164 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Thirst aid kit”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.43, 42.44, 42.53, & 42.60.

Color: Pale straw; 0.2.

Nose: Seaside factory, petrichor.

Taste: Green wood, smoked cream (?), a beachy factory.

Finish: Funky, rice pudding, salty.

A really nice one, with a very interesting rice pudding kind of note early in the finish that’s hard to find again.

Score: 90

This was a really fun sister cask side by side. They are all squarely there own thing, but collectively can be accurately described as just really dirty. If you like that profile, any of these will not disappoint. Really interesting how the color got lighter as the age went up, and the ABV wasn’t going slightly downward, either.

Isle of Raasay While We Wait Last Orders & Inaugural Release

Not a terribly long time ago I saw on Raasay’s webshop that they could ship to the US so I put in a preorder for their Inaugural Release and also added a bottle of the whisky they sourced to kind of “demonstrate” what their whisky will be like, as well as get some cash coming in. So, fortunately for me I got this at a normal price and not the wildly absurd flipped prices I saw this going for. Anyway, I figured I do these together to see how well the While We Wait series served as a bit of a “preview” for what was to come.

Isle of Raasay While We Wat Last Orders, Single Malt, 46% ABV

Minutia: Distilled somewhere ang aged for some amount of time prior to a finish in Tuscan red wine casks. Since the Tuscan casks were kind of their thing at the time, I assume that finishing occurred on Raasay. This was from bottle number 5703 of the “Last Orders” line of the While We Wait series, the fifth and final batch prior to a release distilled at the distillery. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with the Inaugural release.

Color: Russet, Muscat; 1.3.

Nose: Musty, taken over quickly by nuts with a fruity element. Toffee. Earthy and floral. Maybe berry/banana a bit. Vanilla.

Taste: Smoky, vanilla and toffee. Wood.

Finish: Wood, smoky porter/stout, so malt and chocolate. Medium.

This is decent and would be a fine regular product from whoever distilled it. The finish was really nice, reminding me of the finish of certain beers, and as a person who avoids beer most of the time in favor of whisky and cider, it’s a reminder that I do quite like the darker beers like that. Anyway, if this were like the final spirit it’s a good sign, so lets see if it was.

Score: 78

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Isle of Raasay Inaugural Release, Island (Raasay) Single Malt, 52% ABV

Minutia: Distilled from 100% Scottish concerto barley malted to >48ppm and matured in ex-Tennessee whiskey casks and finished in ex-Bordeax red wine casks, both 1st fill, for a total maturation time of 3 years. This is from bottle number 7565. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with While We Wait Last Orders.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.

Nose: A bit like wine, gentle smoke, some sea feeling to it. Earthy and dirty.

Taste: Earthy and fruity with salty smoke lingering underneath.

Finish: Smoke and salty meat pop up after a woody start, and fade into chocolate. Sour fruit after. Medium.

This is a promising start for me. I have a handful of ofther whisky from them for review a bit down the line (a sample of batch R-01 and a bottle of R-02) which follow their formal six-cask type recipe, as well as samples of each specific cask (3 styles of cask, unpeated and peated spirit in each). That will be fun when I have those later this year. With the fact that the nose felt like wine, I have good hopes for the mature spirit as I tend to favor peated spirit that saw a wine cask.

Score: 81

SMWS Tobermory 9/10 2008 Side by Side: 42.34 “Slytherin potion flask”, 42.46 “Seahorse to air missile”, & 42.47 “Oblivious to genius”

A personally “meaningful” set of reviews for a milestone review. After the first side by side I did, I decided to do it for all milestone reviews that don’t occur during ‘events’ such as my Advent calendar. Number 300 just so happened to (read: was contrived to) fall right after the Advent calendar for this year. As soon as I heard of it, “Slytherin potion flask” became a unicorn whisky for me. The names shouldn’t matter, but I’m a big Harry Potter fan and a Slytherin at heart and Ledaig is my favorite distillery, and I also really like 42 as 7 is my favorite number and it’s a multiple of that and I also really enjoyed Hitchhiker’s Guide, so it almost felt made for me (or at least marketed directly toward me). Unfortunately it was bottled before I got into whisky and the society, and it wasn’t even released in what would have been my chapter, so it went onto the wishlist and life went on. 

A while later I was bidding in an auction and saw 42.46 and bid and ended up winning it. I wanted to try a society bottling of my favorite distillery. Turns out, since the SMWS doesn’t differentiate Tobermory and Ledaig, different sites have different standards for listing those bottles. Whiskybase has every 42 as a Tobermory, peated or not, and evidently Scotch Whisky Auctions has every 42 listed as a Ledaig. Unfortunately peated whisky can easily fall into the Oily & Coastal flavor profile, so you can’t even rely on that cue. Anyway, I was mildly disappointed, but it’s not like Tobermory makes garbage when they’re not using peat. I put it on the shelf for another time, and life went on.

Then I joined the society and a 42 came up (42.47). I called in to order it, and Tom made sure to point out which type of 42 it was without me having to ask (stick tap to Tom for that), but I figured “What the hell, I’m already on the phone, plus I really want another bottle to group with my held order to ease the shipping.” That got delivered, I put it on the shelf for another time, and life went on. 

Months later with a stroke of luck only Harry Potter himself and his plot armor could hope for, 42.34 popped up in an auction and I made sure to get it. I finally got the bottle I had resigned myself never to have, and my unicorn list was empty (other than the bunch of others that went on it between this going on and coming off, of course). But the bottle was too special to just open, so it went on the shelf for another time, and life…you get it.

Then I ended up with enough SMWS bottles that I decided to track details (like the rest of you I ended up with a lot more spare time than I had ante-covid, and my OCD ran out of amok) and I discovered these were sister casks. Since I had decided to do sister cask reviews these got penciled in for the next available slot of significance. And now, here we are, with the text you actually clicked on this post for:

Tobermory 9, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.34, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 61.2% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 25, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon barrel for 9 years yielding 221 bottles. This is part of the Oily & Coastal flavor profile named “Slytherin potion flask”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister casks, 42.46 & 42.47, with water added later.

Color: Old gold; 0.6.

Nose: Sweet malt, salty. Floral, a little honey. With water, softer, gains an almost smoky note.

Taste: Leather, spice/salt intensity. A bit of salty sweet malt. With water: amplified spice & salt.

Finish: Coffee beans, cacao. Salty. Medium-long. With water: loses the non-salt note.

Very nice for an unpeated malt for my tastes. I’d have liked some smoke, if course, but as my appreciation for unpeated malt has grown, it’s nice that this whisky which appealed to me was enjoyable and not a stinker.

Score: 84

Musical Evocation: Muggle Death Camp – “Love Song for a Serpent”

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Tobermory 10, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.46, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 61.9% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 25, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon barrel for 10 years yielding 207 bottles. This is part of the Oily & Coastal flavor profile named “Seahorse to air missile”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister casks, 42.34 & 42.47, with water added later.

Color: Amber; 0.7.

Nose: Dark, hidden aromas to start, lemon after. Gets coastal. With water: sharper, some malt.

Taste: Sweet into very salty/briny. Hot. With water: earthy and briny. Still hot not not quite so much.

Finish: Hot. A berry note late. Settles into chocolate after that berry flourish. With water: not quite as hot but still potent. Chocolate and malt notes dance in and out with each other.

It’s quite hot, which makes it a bit harder for me to enjoy, otherwise it’s quite good. I’m looking forward to spending more time with it as it feels like a lot is masked by that heat.

Score: 81

Musical Evocation: Muggle Death Camp – “Salazar’s Treasure”

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Tobermory 10, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.47, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 60.1% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 25, 2008 and matured in a 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel for 10 years yielding 184 bottles. This is part of the Oily & Coastal flavor profile named “Oblivious to genius”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister casks, 42.34 & 42.46, with water added later.

Color: Old gold amber; 0.6.5.

Nose: Subtle. Apple, and more pear, they step aside to reveal the malt. With water: easier to find the fruit, with a bit of vanilla sweeping through.

Taste: Salt into spicy. A savory note tries to peek through. With water: it stays softer, and a light nutty flavor is there.

Finish: Heat at the top. Fades to salt. Some chocolate late. Medium. With water: A light heat gives way to chocolatey malt with a kick. Cereal later.

Another dram that’s decent if unastounding. The finish improved a good deal with the water. It’s another one I’m looking to spend more time with as it seems like a dram that rewards it with subtle notes that won’t jump out at you every time. It’s not as hot as the other one, so it doesn’t feel like that’s masking the other notes in the same way, more that you really need to tease and coax them out here.

Score: 83

Musical Evocation: Muggle Death Camp – “The Crown of the Grey Lady”

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A fun side by side to mark review #300. I’m glad I made it here and I’m glad I’ve finally opened this bottle. Far too many bottles in the “I have it but haven’t opened it yet, category” and with some restructuring to my process, I think I’ll be able to speed that up (in a way that doesn’t entail endangering my body more than I already am). Three is a lot for a side by side, I think I prefer two, but I’ll be back in 25 reviews with 5 of this distillery’s peated brother. Of course, if between now and when I get to them (I’m guess sometime around April) I end up with one or more other sister casks, I might just split them like I did with the ten Bunnahabhains, TBD.

Two Stacks Smoke & Mirrors Side by Side

I’m not entirely sure how I came across this, but I discovered it a while ago and I like peat and stout casks seemed interesting so I got a bottle. Shortly thereafter a Cask Strength version was released so I picked that up as well. Since I was doing a side by side of the Offerman Edition Lagavulins, one of which had a stout cask finish, I figured I’d do the same with these since it’s sort of similar and type them up and post them on the same day. So here we are, seeing how the ABV affected these two (though I don’t believe the process outside of bottling strength is entirely the same, they are similar enough).

Two Stacks Smoke & Mirrors, Ireland Single Malt, 48% ABV

Minutia: The age is undisclosed, but mostly everything else is there. Distilled by The Great Northern Distillery and comprised of 10% double distilled malt aged in 1st fill bourbon casks, 30% triple distilled peated malt aged in bourbon casks, and 60% triple distilled malt finished in ex-imperial oatmeal stout casks, bottled by Killowen Distillery in 2020. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its cask strength cousin with and additional finish.

Color: Amber; 0.7.

Nose: Light stone fruit, some banana. Beerish (but not hoppy).

Taste: Sweet, spice, green smoke. Stone fruit again. The white bit of a Charleston Chew (nougat I think?).

Finish: Dark chocolate on the lighter end of that type of chocolate. Some spice but less that in the taste. Bit of smoke. Medium-long.

Quite a decent dram. The lack of age statement (and age of the source distillery) suggest youth, but that doesn’t hurt it. 

Score: 83

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Two Stacks Smoke & Mirrors Imperial Coffee Finish Cask Strength, Ireland Single Malt, 56% ABV

Minutia: Nearly the same as above. The age is again undisclosed, but mostly everything else is there. Distilled by The Great Northern Distillery and comprised of the same ratio of malt and cask types, bottled by Killowen Distillery in 2021 with and outturn of 282 bottles of which this is number 65. This one features a malt finished in imperial stout casks from Dot Brew infused with Imbibe Coffee’s Kaleidoscope coffee beans. It’s unclear to me whether this finish is exclusive to 60% of the blend that saw the stout cask, or if it was all vatted together and finished in that cask. The outturn being about what you’d expect from a single cask suggests it’s possible the whole batch saw that cask after vatting, and the graphic on the label also indicates this. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its cask strength cousin with and additional finish.

Color: Chestnut, Oloroso Sherry; 1.2.

Nose: About the same as above, but also with green wood and coffee.

Taste: Malt, nut, honey into spice. Smoky custard. Bit of the stone fruit found in the nose.

Finish: Big chocolate right away, coffee, smoky malt. Long.

The strength is evident, but not too much, and that chocolate note in the finish really takes it to the next level.

Score: 85

Lagavulin 11 Offerman Edition Side by Side

I like Lagavulin, and I like Nick Offerman, so when I heard of this I had reservations, but knowing Nick Offerman actively enjoys the product I had hopes it wouldn’t just be slapping a name on a bottle for marketing purposes. I’d have gotten it anyway, most likely, but fortunately the reviews suggested it was a worthwhile expression. Enough time transpired before I got to it to review that another edition was announced and released, that one with a finish. The finish was novel in that the casks hadn’t held another spirit, wine, or fortified wine, and happened to be in barrels which held one of the few beers I actually enjoy. So I decided to post the reviews as a side by side and see what impact the Guinness casks might have had.

Lagavulin 11 Offerman Edition, Islay Single Malt, 46% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 11 years. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with the Guinness Cask Finish edition.

Color: Chestnut, Oloroso Sherry; 1.2.

Nose: Beachy. It’s a bit closed, with some effort there’s some firewood. It’s not wood, and it’s not smoke, but it’s like if you looked at your firewood and imagined how it would smell once burned.

Taste: Spicy at first, fades to reveal a floral woody character. Like tasting walking through blooming trees.

Finish: Bitter, smoky, earthy. Whatever balances those notes and stops them from being overpowering is masked by them. Some honey later, with spice appearing again. Long.

This is a decent dram, and at retail price it’s about right. I prefer a lot to this, but I prefer this to a bunch, as well. It was a bit more reserved than I’d have liked.

Score: 82

Musical Evocation: Sigh – “In a Drowse”

Lagavulin 11 Offerman Edition Guinness Cask Finish, Islay Single Malt, 46% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 11 years, the last 4 months of which were spent in casks from the Baltimore Guinness brewery that previously held their stout. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with the standard edition.

Color: Burnished; 1.1.

Nose: Green wood, seaweed, driftwood, coffee beans (dark).

Taste: Smoky coffee with a stouty richness. Bit of spice and herbs. Slightly medicinal, but a background player.

Finish: A chocolatey stout note, bitter. It’s hard to describe without putting it in the context of the finish of a stout or a rich, chocolately porter. Long.

This is really neat, it’s fun to taste beer in a whisky. The color was lighter, which surprised me, as I’d have thought the casks would be a little more active in that realm, but they must have held the stout a number of times before being used for this. Definite influence of them, however. Definite stouty notes in a vacuum, more obvious when done AB.

Score: 84

Musical Evocation: Alestorm featuring Lady Gaga – “Magnetic Telephone”

The stout finish is nice. I want to see more of it, and more less-than-traditional casks experiemented with (looking at you, SWA). For me, the more gimmicky one was better by a touch, and neither were unpleasant nor revelatory. I wouldn’t hate it if different versions became a (semi)regular thing, as it’s enjoyable and a neat concept if future editions explored similar territory, just as long as they don’t end up beating a dead horse with releases being too regular. These were released about a year and a half apart, and that’s absolutely as regular as I’d want it. Supposing it did become a somewhat regular release, every two or three years for as long as Nick Offerman is culturally relevant would be pretty nice.

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.

SMWS Caol Ila 11 2007 Side by Side, 53.297 "Stampede of peat" & 53.302 "Holy sweet smoke!"

I wanted to do something special for the 200th whisky I reviewed and these two were something I had really been looking forward to trying side by side since I got them. These are two Caol Ilas from the SMWS that were distilled on the same date and have the same age statement. SMWS tragically does not give the bottling date like some other IBs so I don’t know that they spent quite the same amount of time in their respective casks, but they will be within a year of each other. These sister casks are both the same type and the casks were so similar that the difference in bottle outturn is just 1. The names given suggest wildly different flavors (within a specific flavor profile) and it’s very exciting to see just how different two casks can be.

Caol Ila 11, 2007 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 53.297, Islay Single Malt, 58% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on September 24, 2007 and matured for 11 years in refill ex-Bourbon hogshead, bottled at cask strength yielding 263 bottles. Part of their Peated flavor profile and named “Stampede of peat”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister cask 53.302.

Color: Pale gold, 0.3.

Nose: Ashy smoke, a bit maritime, musty berry parfait. With water, sweeter.

Taste: Herbal, vegetal smoke, sweet wood and spice. With water, shift toward the woody side.

Finish: Hot, dry, very earthy smoke. Long. With water, less hot but less smoky and earthy.

My initial impression was that this was not a stampede of peat, and the SMWS must have hired the guy who named Peat Monster to name this one. But considering my notes, and how the smoke is present throughout but different, I can see that being considered a stampede of sorts. A pretty good dram, if a bit hot.

Score: 90

Musical Evocation: Powerwolf – “Incense & Iron”

Caol Ila 11 2007, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 53.302, Islay Single Malt, 59.9% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on September 24, 2007 and matured for 11 years in refill ex-Bourbon hogshead, bottled at cask strength yielding 262 bottles. Part of their Peated flavor profile and named “Holy sweet smoke!”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister cask 53.297.

Color: Pale gold, 0.3.

Nose: Seaside barbecue of the catch of the day, smoky honey. With water, mostly medicinal.

Taste: Very smoky smoked seafood, hot and spicy. With water, creamy, much less heat.

Finish: Sweet for a flash (in a big way but ever so brief), then dry and woody. Long. With water, same but more tame.

This leans far more to smoke than sweet, but that hint of honey and whatever burst on the opening of the finish certainly hint at that. Water hurts the nose and is roughly neutral for the finish, but I really like the creamy quality it gives the taste. Bumped it up a couple points.

Score: 87

Musical Evocation: Galneryus – “Requiem”

Very happy I finally got to these bottles. They’re certainly not the same, but they are similar. The difference is greater than I’d expect from something like batch variation, and these came from the same distillation run and were aged in pretty much the same cask, so that’s neat to see. I have plans to do the same with some Ardmores for 225 and for 250 a big flight of 5 Bunnahabhains all from the same date (though different cask types for those) and I’m really looking forward to it.