Bowmore 15yo Darkest 43%

Distillery bottlings of younger Bowmore and to be honest younger Bowmore in general have been given a hard time from "people" in the so called know! French Whoores Perfume FWP and all that. And I have to admit at times I have fallen into this trap myself on a few occassions and have probably stayed clear of distillery bottlings for too long. Bar the old stuff which is incredibly good! That said some of the IB bottlings from the early 90's onwards have also been stunning.

Anyway I was given the Bowmore 15yo Darkest blind and I thought it was bloody good. That said it was at the end of a boozy meal so I thought I would try it again in a more controlled environment. Here goes!

Nose: Sweet, smoked Bavarian cheese, brown sugar and syrup. touch of smoked eel! Dry hay and crab meat.

Taste: Soft oranges, soft peat. Very sweet. marmalade, butterscotch angel delight.

Finish: Lightly smoke and a little dry granite. A little bit chewy and touch of grapefruits.

Score: 86/100

Comment: A decent enough dram perhaps not as good as I remembered it. I will quite happily drink this - probably quite a lot of it - but if this had been at 46% or at cask strength this could have been a belter!

Balvenie 12yo Doublewood V Balvenie 12yo Signature

A rare head to head tasting for me - taking inspiration from Whiskyfun although unlike Serge who will taste 19 Bowmores at a time I am only doing two Balvenies and 12yo's at that. Anyway here goes!

Balvenie 12yo Doublewood is in Blue Writing and The Signature is in Red Writing

Sig Nose: Dry marzipan, and some dry sherry notes. Quite malty in fact. With time whisky becomes more sherried on the nose.

DW Nose: Still dry and with almonds and the sherry note is more pronounced although there is more of a background creaminess! Plums! And a hint of dark chocolate.

Sig Taste: Initially starts out like it is going to be thick - if only not 40% abv! Again drying and a little woody, touch of marzipan and faint cherries. Reasonably nice just a little thin.

DW Taste: Fuller in the taste - still a little dry and with a touch of hessian sack but strangely in a good way. Also decent amounts of creaminess, reminiscent of ice cream toffee sauce.

Sig Finish: Very short - I thought there was none then a warming hit me in the middle of the throat and subtle oak.

DW Finish: Dry and slightly sherry clawing but fairly short bar the front of the mouth that is puckered dry.

Comment: Both good staple everyday drams but nothing spectacular. If I had to plump for one I would be hard pushed and I would say doublewood edges it on the finish.

Scores: 86 doublewood and 85 signature

Adelphi Glen Elgin 1991 Cask 2599

A new bottling of Glen Elgin 16yo from Adelphi presumably from a sherry butt as it is one of 566 bottles bottled at 55.1% - the dark colour also gives the sherry away!!!! Must pay homage to all companies that don't mask everything with caramel! (Actually I don't mind caramel colouring too much for "consistency" purposes but it's people who try and hide it that really piss me off!

Anyway enough rambling lets taste!

Nose: Big sherry rum and raisin notes, and a little meaty note.

Taste: Again big sherry and slight toffee notes. Like warm caramel sauce on "yellow" vanilla ice cream with a hint of chocolate!

Finish: Not to long for something so richly flavoured - coats the side of the mouth and lingers there but short otherwise.

Comment: A very pleasant dram - maybe that is the only thing wrong with it - its pleasant and yes I would happily drink this again and again but its not something amazing.

Score: 86/100 recommendable!