Notes by producer;

A subtle Bw bottling, with exceptionally clean maritime notes, enhanced by fresh fruit. Ex-bourbon hogsheads from two 1990s’ vintages were used to mature Bw4.

Cask details;
Four refill hogsheads, two from 1995 and two from 1996.

Tasting Notes;

Nose
Chocolate and sea breezes. With time there is lots of sweet tropical fruit, like the tropical-fruit drink Um Bongo or Chewits fruity sweets. Kaffir lime leaves set off nicely against more of the cocoa and a big citrus note of blood orange.

Palate
The peat smoke is soft and mulchy, as if it were freshly cut. The savoury elements are all there such as salt and freshly cracked pepper and a hint of olive brine, but they fade with time, allowing more fruit and spice. There are notes of Conference pears and citrus along with rich, spicy notes of cardamom and star anise.

Finish
At first it seems to get darker with notes of baked pears but then there is some residual sugar beet and old-chocolate lime sweets.

Oasis on Steroids

We all know Elements of Islay from those wonderful apothecary bottles with their Mendeljev-like codes. Bw, for example, signifies Bowmore. This fourth batch is a vatting of four casks – two from 1995 and two from 1996 – blended by Oliver Chilton, head of development for Specialty Drinks.

The clean nose offers maritime elements and tropical fruit in spades. A rocky coast and surf on the one hand; mandarin, apples, mango and banana on the other. Grand!

This is all enlarged on the palate and tucked away in a very peaty and smoky jacked. Oyster sap, a gulp of tropical sea water, mango and pineapple.

The finish is very long, quite zesty and ridiculously sweet, without losing the smokiness.

Yes, this is very good. Oasis lemonade on steroids. Not cheap with its price tag of around 95 EUR, seeing as it is a mere 500ml bottle.

Serge from Whiskyfun says:Bw4 (51.6%, Speciality Drinks Ltd, Elements of Islay, 2014) Colour: straw. Nose: crystal-clean fresh salty maritime Bowmore. ‘A walk on the beach while some seaweed smoke rises from nowhere’. Oh well you know what I mean. With water: the sea. Mouth (neat): perfect young Bowmore. Perhaps very young. Tropical fruits, peat smoke, sea breeze, and all that. Perhaps even mangos. The 1960s are back! With water: hello citrons, brine, oysters and clams! The mangos are gone. Finish: quite long, very clean very zesty, salty and fresh. Who needs a ticket to the Atlantic? Comments: immaculate young Bowmore. Forget about all that official chitchat about oak or wine, that can only alter an otherwise pristine distillate. Now, this baby’s perhaps a little less smoky/peaty than its earlier siblings. No too sure, I haven’t got them all on my tasting table… SGP:556 - 87 points.

N: Light, young, watery grain
T: Sugary, imbalanced and,… a weird dampness. Some charring notes hinting at sulphur trouble my palate - not uncommon for Bowmores in my experience.
F: Confused, damp, rotting wood and a plant compost finish.
C: Nah, this one’s not working for me.

Scores a C-