Bowmore 12 Year
Bowmore distillery was founded in 1779 by John P. Simson before ownership passed to the Mutter family, who held it until the distillery closed in 1915 for ten years, before being purchased and passing through various hands during the 20th Century before falling under a subsidiary of the current owner, Bean Suntory. This conglomorate has a vast spirits portfolio that includes, just in Scotland, the Ardmore, Auchentoshan, Bowmore, Glen Garioch, and Laphroaig distilleries, along with producing the McClelland’s single malt range. It has an annual production capacity of two million liters and the waste heat from the distillation process heats a nearby public swimming pool built in a former warehouse. Through a combination of longevity of operations and careful management, Bowmore currently houses the oldest and most diverse set of whiskies on Islay. The Bowmore 12 is the benchmark of the distillery’s core range, and features maturation in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.
Stranahan’s Distiller’s Experimental Batch 005
Stranahan’s is one of the oldest distileries in the United States. While they have kept a solid core offering over the years, they have also featured annual releases, single casks and limited series. The Distiller’s Experiemental Batch is only available at the distillery itself or the connected Aspen Whiskey Lodge. This series is, as the name connotes, made up of experiments concocted by head blender Justin Aden. Regulations surrounding whiskey allow much more freedom to experiment than some other places, which allows this series to really stretch into all kinds of finishes, grains and other territories not even seen in major releases. The Stranahan’s Distiller’s Experimental Batch 005 was released in 2022. This single malt was aged for six years and two months, and finished for a gin cask that had formely held a single malt scotch. The distillery has not disclosed what specific scotch or American gin the cask previously held, or the exact length of the finish.
Balcones Rumble
Balcones was founded in 2008 in Waco, Texas. The beginning was bringing the different elements together until they could begin distilling in 2009. Two tenets of the distillery from the beginning has been to use ingredients that spoke to the heart of Texas and the other was to be boldly creative. Whether using Baby Blue corn or a remarkable single malt, they have looked to forge their own path of American whiskies. The Balcones Rumble is so creative as to be almost in another category of offerings altogether. It is, in fact, not a whiskey at all. So why are we reviewing it? Because when it was first poured out for us, we couldn’t tell it wasn’t a whiskey at first blush. So call it whiskey adjacent? Good enough for us to explore further. The Rumble is a Texas wildflower honey, turbinado sugar and fig spirit aged in small oak barrels for an undisclosed amount of time.