WHISKY: Bowmore 11 Year (2013), Single Cask Nation Cask 160491

NOTES: Coastal, slightly vegetal, and fruity with tart grapefruit, crushed peppercorns, pumpkin, and roasted salted pumpkin seeds. More unripened green fruits and sandy beaches lingered further in with salty coastal air. Medium-bodied and oily on the palate with a maritime profile that was surprisingly creamy with salted butter, mellow tropical fruits, guava, cracked peppers, vanilla, and a soft mild brine. The finish was medium length with a gentle pepper, soft wood, butter, and almond paste.

SCORE: 6 (78)

IMAGE: Hokkaido Butter Cookies

THOUGHTS: My expectations for Bowmore might be a bit inflated, and so any bottle that does not immediately knock it out of the park suffers the weight of not meeting those lofty standards. I enjoyed the aroma of this one, it had loads of the coastal and beachy elements I enjoy on an ex-bourbon Bowmore alongside some interesting seed and vegetal qualities. The palate was unusually creamy which seemed to mute some of the other flavor elements. Once those fruity and coastal qualities faded, pepper and vanilla remained, giving the dram a rather simplistic feeling.  Overall, not my favorite, but I could see this bottle growing on me and quickly disappearing.

WHISKY: Isle of Harris 6 Year (2017), The Hearach Cask 1050 for K&L

NOTES: Dry autumn leaves blew in with crispy bacon, marshmallow, cocoa, and… was that a bacon s’more? Leaves and dry grass carried on with wispy smoke, nuttiness, and dried persimmons. Medium-bodied and oily on the palate, though a touch thin on the back, with motor oil and pepper providing a spicy-dirty introduction. Butcher’s paper and vanilla arrived with a pile of autumn leaves before more vanilla and molasses pushed things toward gingersnap cookies with a sprinkle of pepper. The finish was medium-length and a touch sour with earth, fallen fruits, and sawdust.

SCORE: 6 (79)

IMAGE: Burning Autumn Leaf Piles

THOUGHTS: Another instance of weighty expectations leaving me to potentially judge the whisky a bit harshly. I enjoyed my previous encounters with the Hearach and a single cask from SMWS, so I had high hopes coming into this whisky. What I found was not bad, but it lacked some of the depth and wonderful earthiness of the others.  It was not totally devoid of those qualities, but a more intense vein of sweet and sugary elements always seemed to push things slightly out of whack. Overall, okay.

WHISKY: Springbank 26 Year (1990), Rest & Be Thankful Cask 096

NOTES: Coastal and fruity, the aroma brought melons, cantaloupe, and briny breezes with dirtier notions of oil stained rags, garages, charred wood, hessian, and metal. Vegetal at times with mellow garden vibes that offered more wet hessian, hints of white flowers, and fruit salad.  Medium-bodied on the palate, the whisky was creamy with floral vanilla as lavender and blue berry scones appeared with sliced grapefruit, cherries, and a shot of calamansi juice. Citrus and sea lingered toward the end with a wispy smoke and more cream. The finish was long with a soft brine, melons, cured meats, and a touch of caramel.

SCORE: 8-9 (90)

IMAGE: Continental Breakfast on a Privateer’s Brig

THOUGHTS: Wow. I was not expecting this to be quite so good— R&BT has had some cracking casks over the years, but they have also had a few odd balls mixed in there and the early 90s are not exactly a dependable era for high quality Springbank casks (or so I hear, I have loved most of the ones I have tried). This was wonderfully subtle and crystal clear as the flavors floated by as if on parade. Each sip brought something just a bit different and I appreciated just how much complexity there was to chase on a single dram. Overall, a dangerous bottle.

WHISKY: Longmorn 26 Year (1998), Hunter Laing

NOTES: The aroma was mild and mellow with lemon raspberry thumbprint cookies, summer grass, hessian, twigs and fresh wood, meadows of green growing things— it was spring in the forest.  Medium-bodied on the palate and surprisingly syrupy, the flavors were bolder on the palate with an initial hit of spirited pepper that faded as limoncello, pineapple, dried grass, palm fronts, and a bit of resinous tea arrived. The finish was medium to long with plenty of jammy tropical fruits, ginger, and dry grass.

SCORE: 8 (88)

IMAGE: Outdoor Summer Reception

THOUGHTS: The aroma was so soft on this whisky, I was afraid the palate was going to be rather austere with a profile that had obviously suffered from too long in the cask. However, I was pleasantly surprised by just how syrupy and well-structured the flavors were. They followed a natural evolution from fruits to grasses to wood and finally more herbal and tea-like resinous elements. This reminded me a lot of my favorite early 90s Longmorn and was undoubtedly one of the best Longmorn I have had in a long while. Overall, delicious.

WHISKY: Lagaman 13 Year Blended Malt

NOTES: Smoke and charred sugars offered up Twizzlers, cherries, vanilla, and chocolate— a Black Forest cake with a touch of bubble gum and musk candies. Medium-bodied and oily on the palate, the flavors were fruity and sooty with strawberry and musk candies leading to Twizzlers, salted caramel, charred fruits, and plenty of melted Starburst candies. The finish was medium to long with refined sugar, fruity sugars, and ash.

SCORE: 5-6 (75)

IMAGE: “Sticky” by Kiss of Life

THOUGHTS: Was the whole greater than the sum of the parts? It was hard to tell through the thick haze of the sherry cask, but it sure did not seem like either Lagavulin or Kilchoman particularly stood out as the sweet influence of the cask dominated proceedings. There were elements of peat and char and malty goodness, but they were nearly always secondary. The whisky was not bad, but it felt like the kind of bottle that would linger on my shelf for years as I rarely felt like drinking it. Overall, not bad, but not to my preference so YMMV.