Bowmore Tempest Batches #3 & #4 head to head

Something good is going on at Bowmore, after a few years of releasing OK products, but nothing spectacular (not taking into consideration the very expensive older releases), recently (and i suspect much thanks to the work done by Rachel Barrie) they have been hard at work releasing good stuff (100 proof, Darkest 15 yo, etc) and of course the Bowmore Tempest, which is essentially a 10 year old Cask Strength expression. I finished a bottle of two of Batch #1, which was very good, but not had batches #2 and on, and was really glad to be able to try those with my mate Sjoerd online in the #lovefirstfill twitter event. Of course batch variance exists, and with those small batches, things can change quite a bit as we’re about to see shortly. Let’s try batch #3 first:

Bowmore Tempest Batch #3 , 55.60% , £45.43

Nose: some nice briny notes out there, peat, but not much. juniper like Genever Lemon drops, leather.seaweed and salt. Islay on a plate. Loving every minute of it.

Palate: Iodine, peat smoke, peppery, chilly. kippers. kerosene. some soot and brine. sharp and peppery. but of lemon curd too. nice

Finish:  Lingering peat reek  brine, kippers and lots of sweet BBQ smoke.

This is a wonderful little gem of a dram. It packs all of the goodies Islay can offer , with that lovely peet reek, and seaside notes, without feeling young. It’s really a nice surprise and I would say It’s even better than batch #1 I liked.

Score: 90/100

Bowmore Tempest #4 , 55,1 , circa €50

Nose : oh… this nose is quite different from the #3. not that much reek, and stench. and sweeter. and timid, it’s not as ferocious as the #3 was. It’s not bad, but not as brilliant as the nose of its sibling….

Palate: starting peppery, sweet, with some leather and sweet peat smoke, a pinch of salt, wood smoke too. All in all it’s nice, but not extraordinary and compared to #3 it’s not there.

Finish : sweet peat smoke, brine, hint of kippers

Not a bad dram after all, but it does not shine as the #3 does, and while supplies last, I’d much prefer the former. It lacks the complexity and the sharp flavors, with too much sweetness that mellows it down.

Score: 86/100

Official samples provided by Morrison-Bowmore