Two Bowmore

Bowmore 1997/2023 (46.1%, Berry Bros & Rudd for Kensington Wine Market, sherry butt, cask #85, 98 bottles)
Color: pale gold. Nostril: that is the epitome of how I take into consideration late Nineties Bowmore in my thoughts: background fruitiness with pristine coastal brininess up entrance, all wrapped up in some surprisingly chunky peat smoke. There’s additionally all the time this compelling and exquisite dryness about it, which is one thing that all the time appears to differentiate the indys from the officers in my opinion, the OBs not often show their whisky in such an unvarnished guise. You can add dried seaweed, inexperienced tea with lemon, anchovy paste and guava jam into the combination – completely wonderful! Mouth: what an arrival! A great deal of dried unique and citrus fruits, but additionally a terrific bitterness that encompasses bitter natural liqueurs and extracts, artichoke liqueur, combined olive tapenades, celery salt and this excellent combo of hessian and tarred rope. The low ABV by no means feels low, actually it manages to juggle energy, drinkability and this wealthy variety of flavour with embarrassing effortlessness. End: lengthy, again on dried fruits, lemon oil, coconut water, olive tapenades, preserved lemons and thick wafts of pure peat smoke. Feedback: Bowmore in full, elegant stride. The one hassle is such bottles, at such excellent pure strengths, are typically barely…err… lethal… 
SGP: 665 – 91 factors.

Bowmore 30 yo 1990/2020 (53.7%, Kingsbury for Membership Qing, cask #3971, hogshead)
Color: gold. Nostril: pure and dry, with crystalline peat smoke, seashore sand, seashells and impressions of seaweed in rockpools. Behind all that, some mild however particular evocations of older, fruitier model Bowmore, with these delicate notes of pink grapefruit, guava and a tiny inclusion of passionfruit. In brief: a stunning and extremely meticulous nostril that stands aside from the 1997 and feels prefer it belongs fairly distinctly to the pre-1994 early Nineties model. With water: seaweed, waxes, camphor, mineral salts and crystalised unique fruits. Nonetheless fantastically elegant and finely detailed. Mouth: a lot peatier and richer than that elegant nostril recommended, thicker peat smoke, but nonetheless splendidly drying, involving issues like tarred rope, hessian, squid ink, smoked sea salt and black olive. A kind of peaty profiles that reveals beautiful variations on umami. With water: tends extra in direction of the fruitier elements now, nonetheless retains a lot of this weighty and salty profile, however delivers extra particular notes of grapefruit, star fruit and a little bit mango. End: lengthy, again on crystalline, fine-grained peat smoke, bone-dry coastal impressions, evenly brewed unique fruit teas and issues like miso and dried seaweed. I additionally discover the aftertaste fairly medicinal. Feedback: most likely among the many finest Bowmores of those post-perfume vintages. This period might produce some barely muddled profiles, however this feels splendidly exact, class and reveals nice growth. A snap when it comes to rating with the 1997. 
SGP: 465 – 91 factors.