review #2: Bladnoch 1990/2011, Edition Spirits, 58.3%, cask #ES 005/01

I think this is pre-Armstrong and pre-Hunter Laing indy Bladnoch ...

Why did they ever close it? And in the 90's, too -- wasn't the whisky crisis over by then? Did the place come with two or three stills? With whisky in the warehouse?

Nose: very sweet, perfumed apples as soon as I open it -- not like the newmakey apple, or the generic Glenfiddich green apples -- more like a winey heirloom apple, or something Snow White would bite into (without the poison). Then cherries and other orchard fruit, maybe some berries and macarons, and a rich graininess. It settles into a sharp grassiness with a bit of engine oil.

Palate: strangely like the nose but backwards. it starts off sharp, grassy, peppery, and ends up on rich, sweet orchard fruit. pretty powerful at this strength (duh).

Long, peppery, oily (motor and cooking) finish.

For me the best part was the nose, however: the rich red fruit was powerful but balanced by the grain and grass. It did hold up on the palate, too.

score: 86

review: Bowmore 16yo 1993/2010 Perfect Dram 59.9%, bourbon hogshead, 209 bottles

let's get this started

according to whiskysamples, "Bowmore Distillery was running very slowly in 1993, with long fermentation times and slow distillation resulting in a distinctive fruitier spirit." So let's see.

(You'd think that if it worked, and if it's under their control, they'd keep doing that ... ex-bourbon Bowmore becomes almost perfect when there's something good on top of the oily smoke and bitter grapefruit ... but I guess running slowly means less spirit ...)

Nose is open, even at this strength, not going to bother with water. Fruitiness yes, but it's a little strange: somewhere between rosehips and nettles. Ok, so nettles aren't fruit, but it's a weirdly dry citric fruitiness that almost veers off into grassiness. I get smoked grapefruit peels -- as if such a thing existed. The peat is almost farmy -- hay that's gone bad -- but ends up being an ashy smoke.

Palate: wow, I should have added water. I took a step back for this one: a mouthful of peat. Concentrated, sun-dried, oven-roasted peat. (I must be getting soft in my old age.) There's a fair amount of citrus and floral sweetness, but the peat kind of kicks its ass.

Finish: my mouth is still smoking. Ashes (campfire, cigarette, whatever), with some citrus and a little bit of faint vanilla softens it up. If you wait a while, the ashiness settles down into something more earthy, and dried plums (ume) and sour cherries come into the picture. Very, very long mouth-coating finish in any case.

I found this strangely forbidding and completely, completely engaging. Not the most enjoyable beverage in the world, but still very good.

score: 87

edit/update: empty glass: rich, creamy, earthy, oily peat. I think there were a lot of flavors that were concealed by the intensity -- I wish I had more than a sample to taste of this one. Also, I think I'm sweating peat smoke now.