A. D. Rattray (distilled at Bowmore), 18 year old (Cask #2075), 53.5%, $100
The fruit (orange marmalade, tangerine, fresh pineapple) is nearly as dominant as the leafy smoke. Sweet notes of nutty caramel, honeyed barley, toffee, and nougat round out the palate. Ginger, cinnamon, telicherry pepper, tobacco, and ash play a supporting role. Lingering fruity, smoky finish. For those who like sherried Islay whiskies.
Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 90
I like bottom line sentences like “For those who like sherried Islay whiskies.”
Good mature cask strength Bowmores are few and far between. A good price too. I’ll be looking for this one.
this is indeed a very good whisky, and not very far away from the laphroaig profile, in my opinion. i have to say though that while i loved the first half of the bottle, it’s flattened out a little since that point–the finish seems a lot weaker now. of course, i’m one of those idiots who has close to 100 bottles open simultaneously, and so this one’s taken a while to get to the half-way mark. this will not be an issue for normal and smart people who don’t keep multiple bottles lying open on their shelves for months and months at a time. nonetheless, now that john has put the word out i’m going to preemptively replace it.
High strength, Indie bottler, 18 years, $100 sounds like a good one to put on the birthday list.
I have this bottle and I agree with John’s review. A very nice smokey whisky but balanced out by the sherry (though I get some bacon on the nose and palate). I got my bottle from D and M in California.
http://www.dandm.com/product_info.php?cPath=101_103_104&products_id=12269&cat=scotch