Whisky : Bowmore 15 Year Old (Fèis Ìle 2019)

Country/Region : Islay

ABV : 51.7%

Cask : First Fill Ex-bourbon

Nose : Opens with a blast of spice, pine, and citrus.  Those last two notes intermingle with a funky old shoe to create the impression of talcum powder or some odor neutralizing shoe product.  Occasionally a bit wet like a cologne infused with smoke notes— which leads to the impression of dirty sneakers into a men’s locker room.  More pleasant notes of vanilla that roll out near the end.

Palate : Light body with an alcohol burn that begs for time to rest in the glass or a bit of water.  While the burn did fade with time, the flavor profile that it revealed was not a big improvement.  Mineral notes and wood varnish gave the dram an astringency that only highlighted the weak feel of the body.  Water tamped down some of the bitter to bring out hay grass and vanilla along with a chemical smoke— burning kerosene or butane burners in a lab.  

Finish : Quick fade of bitter wood and mineral notes.

Score : 3

Mental Image : Locker Room at the Tennis Club. Pungent aftershave, dirty shoes, talcum powder.

Something Better : Lagavulin 16 (richer deeper profile, better balance, longer finish, better body)

Something Similar : Bowmore 15 Year (better price, more complex, more rounded)

Notes :  There is a special kind of disappointment— sometimes bordering on relief when, in the middle of falling in love, you suddenly snap out of it.  A feeling you might get when someone you never noticed before suddenly catches your eye and you start to fall in love— but then something about them hits you and you remember why it was never going to work in the first place.  I do not understand this Bowmore.  There are any number of great independent and official distillery bottles I have been lucky enough to try this year— enough that I was actually starting to come around on the distillery.  But then this happened— whatever this hot mess is.

I love a good funky dram, but this was just a bit too odd on the nose and then bitter on the palate. If given blind I probably would have pegged this as a Finlaggen or some other mystery cheap Islay bottle. I am mostly confused since this was bottled for the Fèis Ìle celebration, a time when I would have thought the distillery would really be looking to show off some exceptional casks or vattings. This was just a swing and a miss, it really needed something else to help bring balance to the bottle. It needed something to bring some more viscosity of body, perhaps some other layer of sweet notes to balance against some of the overriding bitter.

Whisky : Bowmore 15 Year Old (Fèis Ìle 2018)

Country/Region : Islay

ABV : 52.5%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Oloroso Sherry

Nose :  A fruity debut: apples, overripe mangos, tropical fruit cup.  There are some lovely mineral notes, maybe in a mineral oil used to treat the worn leather notes that come through.  Smoke from hot oil comes along with fried plantains that carry the notes back toward the fruity opening.

Palate :  Medium bodied, the dram starts with a gush of fruit, honey, and fried pastries.  A toffee sweetness veers towards bitter burnt caramel.  A dark coffee turns toward bitter chocolate.  The dram develops a rough spicy astringency that crashes headlong into the dry tartness of grape skins, bitter coffee, and bitter chocolate.  

Finish : Lingering bits of sour plums into a bitter stale coffee.

Score : 3

Mental Image : Fruit Gushers! A burst of flavor and then chewy nothingness.

Something Better : Glen Scotia 10Y SMWS 93.98 (similar tropical fruit/fried plantain, more complex)

Something Similar : Bowmore 15 Year (richer flavors, more tar, less bitter, less intensity)

Notes :  This just starts off so lovely and then falls to pieces.  Like a fruit gusher, flavors just burst out, but then fade away.  The malt just does not play nicely with the oloroso; instead of rich chocolate, fudge, or coffee the cask imparts just the bitter elements of baking chocolate or an old acidic coffee.  It really is a disappointment after such a lovely nose of fruits and fried goods.  Adding in a bit of water helped tamp down some of the bitter, but the flavors become more muted overall.  I have a feeling that this might not be bad on the rocks— but for a special edition Fèis Ìle bottle that is not what I want.

I am not sure what to make of this Bowmore or the 2019 Fèis Ìle edition either. Is 15 just as awkward a year for Bowmore as it is for most people? I have had great younger and older bottles— but these mid-teen expressions all seem to be awkward as if they were made of puzzle pieces from different puzzles that do not quite fit together.