Hello, whisky enthusiasts, and welcome back to another exciting side-by-side tasting of two single malts, where I get to explore the minuscule differences between a carefully selected pairing, take down these notes in real-time as I sip on the drams, pick a winner, and hopefully learn something new in the process. Perhaps no one will ever read this article at all, and yet I’ll still be happy to have documented this experience – I will be reading this myself for many years to come. But I digress. Up for a tasting today is the Bunnahabhain 1997, courtesy of Cask Explorers‘ 2022 Advent Calendar (Diamond Edition) from behind door number eleven. This is where I’ve been going through each hidden gem as fast as I can (admittedly, it has taken me an entire year, and I’m not even halfway through!), and then I try to pick a formidable contender from my own archives, and today I’ve honed in on the Bowmore 1995 bottled by Morrison and MacKay (MMcK). I’m ready to dive in, but first, we need music! Now Playing: Slowdive – Everything Is Alive.

I haven’t popped a cork on that Bowmore before, so I’m pretty excited about this one – I’ve had some great experiences with Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask series from MMcK. That being said, I’ve also had some bad experiences with “bottle funk” on newly opened cask-strength whiskies (see my write-up on Bottle Shock, Oxidation, Sulfur and more), and so, following my own advice, I pour both of the whiskies into two Glencairn glasses and let them breathe there for a bit. The Bunnahabhain is 22 years of age, and the Bowmore is 23, so I’ll let them sit in my glasses for about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, I’ll cover the basics of these malts. The Bunnahabhain is uncoloured, non-chill filtered, and bottled at a cask strength of an even 50.0% (how did they do that?). It is a limited release of the Bunnahabhain Mòine, which means “Peat” in Gaelic, distilled in 1997, aged in ex-bourbon casks, and then finished in PX (for an unspecified period of time) before it was bottled in 2020. So, I will expect this to be slightly smoky and maybe a little bit sweet. Fingers crossed. The Bowmore, which I’m hoping will also be just a tad smoky, is also uncoloured, non-chill filtered, and bottled at a cask strength of 49.2% [very close to Bunna]. It’s a very limited release of a single-cask whisky bottled exclusively for Hedonism Wines (one of my favourite places in London). It was distilled in 1995 and then spent all of its time in an ex-bourbon hogshead until 2018. Okay, has it been 20 minutes since I started writing this paragraph? Yes! I think it has! Let’s kick it off!

Since the colour is natural on both, I can tell you that the Bunnahabhain is a little darker, as expected from that PX cask influence. The nose is a little woodsy (oh, please, don’t let it be overcooked!), with spices like liquorice, cinnamon, and then the sweetness of PX. I can’t sense the peat anywhere – perhaps it’s hiding. The Bowmore is also a bit herbal on the nose (what’s going on here?), with maybe slight bourbon notes, again no peat, but then some warehouse-dampened earth. I sense some aniseed and even pour a bit into a brand-new glass to ensure my vessel is not contaminated. Let’s go in for a very tiny sip, neat first, starting with the Bunna. Okay, great news, no oakey overcooked flavours here. Soft, buttery-flavoured, sherried old man with a very light touch of smoke. I’ll add just a few drops of water to this one and hope it takes it well. The Bowmore, wow, green sweet grapes, candied, boiled sweets, no smoke as far as I can tell, and, thankfully, no aniseed (albeit I can still sense it on the nose). Some water goes in it as well, and now I’ll try them both again. The Bunnahabhain is an extremely soft, delicious, pillowy dram with minimal smoke that has integrated well with the sweetness, so it’s almost like a distant echo of a cigar dipped into sweet cherry butter. Now comes the ash and sootiness in the finish. Lovely. I do not love the nose on this Bowmore, but the palette is entirely something else – again, some juicy, sweet green grapes, green fruit, and some vanilla mixed with cream. Way longer finish than the Bunnahabhain that still lingers. Both took to water well, and I am very happy with the ABV on these. Let’s take a little break, drink San Pellegrino, and take these two big boys out on my balcony, where I will finish them in reverse and try to pick a winner.

Distillery / Region	Bunnahabhain / Islay	Bowmore / Islay
Bottler / Series	Distillery Bottling / Limited Release	Morrison and MacKay / Càrn Mòr
Stated Age / Vintage	22 years old /1997	23 years old (calculated) / 1995
Cask type	Ex-bourbon + PX Finish	Hogsgead
ABV / Cask Strength	50.0% / Yes	49.2% / Yes
Non-chill filtered/ Uncoloured	Yes / Yes 🌟	Yes / Yes 🌟
Price	£350	£285
Did it win? / Did I like it?	Yes / Yes – but I wish it was more peaty	Yes / Yes – but the nose is strange
Would I buy it? / Recommend it?	No – too expensive / Yes – but just a dram	Not again / Yes – but just a dram

So, there you have it, folks, another lovely tasting. I kind of wanted the Bunnahabhain to be slightly smokier. After all, it was a PX finished Mòine – perhaps something similar to Lagavulin Distillers Edition or the Laphroaig PX Cask. However, I recognize that this is a much older whisky, and so, with age, the peatiness subsides. This is, however, a £350 bottle, so I’m not sure if I’d be willing to spend that much on it. The Bowmore, like I said, is also unexpected. The weird “herbal” flavoured nose didn’t disappear – perhaps it will with time. There is no smoke in this whisky either, and the juicy, sweet green grapes are unexpected [especially at this age]. I wonder what kind of a “hogshead” it was – perhaps some sherry, after all? I paid £285 for it in May of 2021. But is it worth it? I may have to sit on it a while longer to confirm. With that, I will conclude this tasting and proclaim a tie between these special whiskies – there is no clear winner, I’m afraid. To be honest, I am slightly leaning towards the Bowmore, but I suspect that’s only because I have an entire bottle to go through with time.