https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2019/01/30/cadenheads-warehouse-tasting-battle-of-the-brands-part-2-2/

“What do you think of this one?”, asks Cameron. I gauged a solid & considered applause from at least 50% of the audience, but I reckon most already want a bottle before they’ve even properly tried it.

N: Hugely potent and floral, possessing a little smoke, a vibrant bunch of violets, cubed ginger, quince jelly, sweet olive oil/sewing machine oil,… This rocks!
T: Delivers too, at first. Lots of smoke, violets, savoury-sweet veg, fruits, flora n fauna…..
F: Turns a touch meaty > coppery with dried flowers and metallic herbal bitter.
C: It seems that just about everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and is queueing for the Bowmore. I leave the warehouse and sit on a grassy knoll under the blazing sun, whilst reflecting on the Glenturret [and that peated English in Part 1]. Despite playing a tipsy Bah Humbug role, an hour later I have joined the queue that has almost disappeared, along with the whisky, save for a handful of people and the last swishes of a hogshead. The cask is very low but I manage to procure a bottle. There was no chance of me flipping it as I’d forgotten [in my stupor] to get it bottle-sealed. So, why did I buy this? For the violets! Isn’t that one of THE distinctive distillery character notes of yesteryear, and so perhaps this is a new/contemporary Bowmore masterpiece? Whisky sure does go to my head, and boy is it fun!

Scores a B

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2019/08/14/bottle-polishing-an-islay-trio/

From a cask that was drained by the Cadenhead team within one hot hour [WLP87].

N: A pungent compact-savoury > sweet-floral-sour malt with a straight cereal barley vibe > > bitter coppery = porridge-y > > dry spirituous smoke.
T: An intoxicating mix that dynamically changes with every sip. Overall, sun-dried aromatic rose & violet leaves with flowery-sweet-malty-peat following thereafter. Later, after plenty of changes, rose to ginger, fruits, sweet veg [juiced carrots],… and some bitter herbal action on the turn.
F: A consistently & spirit-y softly smoky medium-length finish with sandy coppery meatiness with cocoa/easter egg/hot chocolate > malty ash,…. that kind of thing. A bitter/sour pervades the finish with nettle leaf & ashy-dry gravy stock, dry sweet-ish Smarties casings and touches of fruit juice at the death. Lifts off sweet-savoury offering hints of a varied fruit platter.
C: A whisky that will be popular not only for the fact that it offers so much. If you’re looking for a powerful spirit-led yet thoroughly balanced, well tempered & dynamically complex dram [with no time spent talking about oak or vanilla], get on board. On a subjective level, I struggled with the palate at times but that’s by the by. Provisionally scores 88 points.

LAST 10cl

N: All-strong/encapsulating, yeasty ethanol > slightly butyric vodka & orange yet also with sweet > light/white meaty fauna > and earthy notes. What was the previous cask contents? It would seem quite the driver at times.
T: Intense-sour-floral-sweet,…. developing to a grainy savoury-sour-bitter < < dryish sour complex, with an eqully complex dry-salivating floral citrus-dry unravel. Same same with leafy-floral/yeast things all moving around. Lots of action on the palate that’s not so common in my book.
F: Complexity meets whisky’s bare ingredients, finishing rightly dry after plenty of salivating-dry [chilli-heat] action with a leafy-sour. Imagine chewing on a privet hedge leaf and a belladonna chilli with a sprinkle of matcha powder – interesting ideas towards more food discovery. The most desirable pepper/vegetal/sour finish then awaits.
C: You just can’t argue with this one [I think Jenna was set up with that Aberfeldy]. An idiosyncratic and volatile festival bottling that some may rightly crave years after the event. I spot plenty more things during the last few sips but I’ve provided enough detail for this one.