Bowmore 24 yo 1991 Carn Mor #616 54.9% vs Bowmore 25 yo 1989 Douglas Laing Old Particular #10581 55.1%
Bowmore 24 yo 1991 Carn Mor #616 54.9%
It’s a rebound style that leaves behind a decade best forgotten. Can something be both immaculate and peaty? Pure liquid smoke, salt water and a rooty, loamy tincture of peat. Safe and simple. Mezcal, lemon cough drops and that’s it. Its simplicity belies its age. Seems to me the distiller was playing it extra safe. 85 pts
Bowmore 25 yo 1989 Douglas Laing Old Particular #10581 55.1%
No florals. It’s miraculous some of these 89s recovered so. A gritty blend of sunflower oil, chalk, crushed sea shells cold resins and granite dust. Also gentian, sizzling briquettes and austere high heat smoke. A chiselled Bowmore with a spartan heart of salty minerals and smoke. Somewhat difficult but completely worth it. 87 pts
Bowmore 12 yo 10th Anniversary of Tullifield Art & Whisky 2002 / 2014 56%
A micro bottling of 30 bottles. This side of the naughties saw a decidedly fruitier Bowmore. And so it is here on display. A warmly ripe and golden fruit basket of pineapples, mangoes and cantaloupe, yes – yet not anywhere near as sticky sweet or bursting with that achingly ripe fruitiness of the 60s (obvious, but it must be noted). Still let that not detract from the quality of the whisky at hand. Ground flints and chalk in a granite pestle with lime leaf, sea shells, ash and rock salt. A pinch of coal dust and white ash tops off a lean salt-and-mineral led profile that seems to be quintessential early 2000s Bowmore. 88 pts
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- Ben Nevis 23 yo 1996 / 2019 Single Malts of Scotland for the Nectar #536 51.3% vs A Speyside Distillery 32 yo 1989 / 2022 Thompson Bros 51.4%
- Brora 22 yo 1972 / 1995 Rare Malts 61.1% vs Brora 22 yo 1972 / 1995 Rare Malts 58.7%
- Talimburg 19 yo 1986 / 2005 The Whisky Fair #1485 45.9% vs Talisker 20 yo 1981 / 2002 62%
- Caol Ila 12 yo Bulloch Lade for Zenith 43% vs Caol Ila 30 yo 1979 / 2010 Berry Bros #4604/5 55.6%
- Clynelish 29 yo 1965 Whyte & Whyte 52.1%
- Brora 21 yo 1982 / 2003 Signatory #416 58.4% vs Clynelish 27 yo 1982 / 2009 Synch Eli Daily Dram 46%
- Dornoch 5 yo 2017 / 2023 #46 ‘Jasper Broers’ 57.9% vs Shizuoka ‘private cask’ 2017 / 2022 #2017-108 61%
- Clynelish 26 yo 1993 / 2020 Carn Mor #11215 52.7% vs Bowmore 17 yo 2004 /2021 SMWS 3.327 ‘Siren’s Song’ 57.1%
- Talisker 25 yo ‘Bottle TA25 3987’ 45.8% ~ bottle code L0296CM004 bottled 2020 vs Ledaig 11 yo 2008 / 2019 The Swan Song & 1BRD #700104 58.7%
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