Penderyn 8 Year (SMWS 128.16 "The Magic Faraday Tree")

 The second of two Penderyn bottles just released by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"), an offering I couldn't resist, being (a) partly Welsh myself, and (b) a lover of the two Penderyn bottles I've had so far. 

Glenrothes 8 Year (SMWS 30.121 "Worth Hunting Down")

 

I have had so little Glenrothes - in fact, my records say only one bottle, also a single cask release from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"). That bottle was even younger, only 7 years old, but featured very similar casking as this one - initial sherry maturation with a finish in a STR sherry butt, so I am expecting it to be mostly the same. 

Glenrothes is a Speyside distillery owned by the Edrington Group (Macallan, Highland Park, etc.), was founded in 1879, and uncommonly features their own cooperage on-site. 

Tobermory 15 Year (SMWS 42.68 "An Atlantic Morning Dip")

 

This 15 year Tobermory, a single cask bottling from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") to celebrate Summer 2022, caught my attention right away because it's an older expression and categorized by the SMWS as "oily and coastal," which is probably my favorite of their categories. Tobermory, situated on the Isle of Mull, makes both peated and unpeated whiskies, and this is unpeated. The peated stuff, released under the name Ledaig, is uniformly excellent. 

Bowmore 17 Year (SMWS 3.324 "Split Personality")

 

I've been waiting for this for some time - an older single cask Bowmore! I am one of those who hasn't terribly been impressed at all with the uber-funky 15 Year official bottling, and can't source any of the older bottlings that everyone else seems to rave about (generally the 18-to-27 year range) for a price below First Born Child. 

But finally I have my chance to have a full-strength bottle from the gentle, fragrant Islay distillery that is Bowmore. This single cask bottling is released via the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") under their Lightly Peated flavor category, nicknamed "Split Personality." But it's not without some peculiarities...