Feis Ile post - Top Bowmore

Sometime back, I was rather unimpressed with Bowmore's offerings, though I probably had been tasting more from their travel retail series than any of their signature bottlings. The standard 12 made me want to give them a chance; a recent tasting of a rare-ish OB blew me away. I think I'll want to try more Bowmores from now on. What did I taste that changed my opinion so drastically?

This:

As usual, whenever I try such old bottlings, DW and his dad has something to do with it. Well, my sister married DW's brother, so this was at the banquet. There were other things as well: Glenfiddich 25, Chivas 25, Yamazaki 18, Hibiki 17, and this Bowmore. Of the lot, this was most impressive.

Bowmore 25 "Small Batch Release" (abv 43%)

Nose - Smoky, like smoking charcoal. Some sherry notes - dried cranberries and raisins, and a light dusting of cinnamon powder. A bit of toffee and dark chocolate as well.

Palate - Oomph. Lots of liquorice. Smoke and a subtle brooding peat influence. Goes well with the light leatheriness of the texture. Raisins, dark chocolate, and maybe a bit of a coffee bean. It is fairly smooth too, with some vanilla and oak. With a bit of time, the cocoa notes get bigger, and the raisins become less dry. This is really great stuff.

Finish - Smoky and oaky. A bit of cranberry and prunes, liquorice lingers a little too.

Overall - yummy. I love it when peat, smoke and sherry casks come together perfectly, and this is great.

The Other Taiwan Whisky

Kavalan's been snagging all the awards, and grabbing all the headlines, but there's another whisky making company in Taiwan - the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TLL). They make a cheaper, more nondescript whisky, the Nantou Omar. Two standard bottlings - the Sherry cask, and the bourbon cask. Recently, they had released cask strength versions of the same whisky, I believe. CO was in Taiwan and asked for cheap recommendations from the Taiwan travel retail. I thought this would be a good bargain, at less than SGD50. Pretty hard to find outside of Taiwan, cheap, and, while not as big hitting as the Kavalan, it's gathered its fair share of awards, winning silver in the International Spirits competition.

CO bought it, and here is the tasting:

Nantou Omar (Sherry type) (46% abv)

Nose - Fairly sharp attack of alcohol. Even after a few swirls around the glass, the attack of the alcohol doesn't weaken. Thankfully, it isn't just alcohol trying to invade your nostrils. There's the fairly obvious sherry influence on the nose - dried fruits like raisins and cranberries. A bit of vanilla. Fairly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg too.

Palate - Mm. The alcohol tickles here. Hardly as fierce as the nose suggests. Raisins and cranberries like on the nose. Vanilla, and quite a bit of oak on this. The spices are really pretty well blended - nutmeg, cinnamon powder. Slight bit of bread crumbs. Drop of honey to sweeten the whole package. The distillate probably wasn't very complex, but I think the cask selection was good.

Finish - Not short, that is to say, above expectations. Very clean. Nutmeg and a touch of pepper; a bit of oak and dried fruits again.

Overall - For a sherry cask whisky, it'll not blow your palate off like the Kavalan Solist Sherry cask, or the Glendronach brothers. This whisky however, gets top marks in the bang-for-buck scale. An easy sipper that is still flavourful enough to spend some time chewing over.

Good buy!

Bruichladdich Catch-up

Some serious catching up to do. Bruichladdich has been awfully prolific with its offerings - local barleys, wine finishings, Octomore, Port Charlottes, the new Laddie Ten...whew. And here I am, cradling my very own Laddie Ten...from the first edition in 2012/3.

This baby was bought in Taiwan last year, in that shop near Tamshui station. Really surprised to find a bottling that was already out-of-production. Guess sales move a little more slowly there.

So, this is the old Laddie Ten, when the distillery was finally rebooted and was celebrating the 10th anniversary of its resurrection with this ten year old offering. Reviews then were generally great, and I'm excited to join the bandwagon, 5 years later. This older bottling is at 46% abv, as compared to 50% in the newer release.

Bruichladdich 'Laddie Ten' (46% abv)

Colour - Between hay and gold. Rich yellow.

Nose - Oooh. Sharp. Minerals, lemons, a touch of smoke, some hay and a bit of...soil. This is not all sharp though, as there's some vanilla to give it a little roundness. Mm. Fairly obvious salt, though this doesn't become salty. You get what I mean?

Palate - A sharp attack on salt, lemons, orange zest. Refreshing, actually. The smell of the sea goes well with the sweetness in this - malty sweetness and a touch of honey about it. A fair amount of pepper. Salt and pepper then. That's my new favourite Kettle Chips flavour. Enjoyable sipper, this one.

Finish - Oak, pepper, a little drying. Still a little salty, and orange peel/lemon zest comes back again. Hmm. Maybe a touch of some herb...parsley?

Overall - I really should be comparing this to the new Laddie Ten, but I don't have a bottle of that yet. Glad I bought this, really. Only SGD60. Wow.