Blind Bowman Battle! A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength B1, B2, & B3
Background
This is, admittedly, a copycat exercise! I recently worked with a local group, the Neckpour Boyz, in their quest to do a blind Bowman Cask Strength breakdown by providing them with some samples. What followed was an immediate sense of envy and curiosity. Would my personal blind rankings be the same? I have previously reviewed each of these three batches (links at the bottom for those curious), but never at the same time. How would a blind ranking match or not match my past scores?
Well there is only one way to find out! I dialed up my neighbor and frequent tasting partner/collaborator and we did our own blind. Here’s how things shook out:
Whiskey 1
Nose: A musty cherry, lemon tea... actually, Arnold Palmer. It's sweet and inviting, and surprisingly does not punch you in the face despite all of these whiskeys being exceptionally high proof.
Palate: Honey, a bit of cherry, and that citrus from the nose persists. That said, it’s fairly wood driven and a touch thin. Thinner than I remember any of these being at least.
Finish: Warm and snuggly. Baking spices and cherry compote alongside a gentle toasted oak.
Overall: As you can tell from the palate, it’s a touch thinner than my recollection but that should not detract from it being a flavor profile I personally love. Honey, fruit, and the age comes through nicely with a healthy amount of oak.
Whiskey 2
Nose: Similar lemon citrus note from whiskey 1. This time there is a fair bit of honey as well, though the cherry note is notably absent.
Palate: Oh the viscosity here is a beauty. Just rich, mahogany wood and maple syrup forward. Extra maple, actually.
Finish: A nice maple syrup and french toast finish. Complete with some cinnamon sugar. It’s a pretty elegant finish, in that it lingers long but comfortably with a nice balance of heat and sweat.
Overall: I mean, tough to find something not to like about this pour. It’s one of those moments where you sip a whiskey and remember why you go through the effort to participate in this stupid hobby in the first place. Dark sugars mingle with wood and spice notes, excellent stuff.
Whiskey 3
Nose: Brighter and slightly more vivacious than the last two pours. More specifically the nose gravitates towards citrus this time, and not honey or cherry.
Palate: More maple syrup, thick melty caramel, bit-o-honey candies, hints of black licorice. The best palate of the bunch I reckon.
Finish: Candied lemon, charred oak, an interesting herbal minty note that differentiates it from the other two, along with a more robust black pepper spice.
Overall: Hmmm yeah, again really nice stuff. It’s a little punchier than the last two pours, but not necessarily in a bad way. Its spicier side pops a bit more in particular, but never in a way that feels out of balance.
And now for the reveal… jokes on me, as my tasting partner kept them all in the same order!
Whiskey 1 = Batch 1
Whiskey 2 = Batch 2
Whiskey 3 = Batch 3
What’s ironic is that this is roughly how I had them scored in my mind, batch two as the stand out with it being essentially a coin flip between batch one and batch three. You’ll also note I declined to score these above. This is largely due to the fact that as I was drinking them blind none of them jumped out to me as falling below the original ~9-9.5/10 range I scored them at in past reviews. My tasting partner, who also did them blind, came out with Batch 2, Batch 1, then Batch 3. I won’t spoil the Neckpour Boyz video too much, but I personally think when you take their two rankings in concert with our two, you start to see a slight pattern but mostly a consistent throughline that these are all delicious whiskeys.
As promised, here’s the original three reviews if you’re curious:
