In my opinion Bowmore has a good track record of distillery bottlings, especially if you like the combination of sherry and peat. I remember a very good hand-filled cask for Feis Ile 2017 among others.
Recent distillery exclusives are now labelled Crafted by Hand by the way, and not hand-filled.
Bowmore 26 yo 1999 ‘Crafted by Hand’ (56,4%, OB 2025, Pedro Ximénez sherry cask #13, distillery exclusive)
Nose: excellent. High complexity and a very juicy style of sherry. Think sour cherries and fresh plums, some blood orange and redcurrant jam. Toasted raisins. Then darker hints of chocolate ganache, walnuts, a little cinnamon and an earthy undertone. Hints of lacquered bacon, tobacco leaves, light exhaust fumes and lots of ashy notes.
Mouth: now more earthy, enhanced by a tart layer of wet tobacco leaves and dark fruits. Blackcurrants, damsons, cranberries and more plum juice. Then a slightly more astringent layer of bitter chocolate and fresh woody notes (European oak?), cloves and a leathery dryness. Seville oranges, light mentholated notes and strong black tea. Strong espresso too.
Finish: long, a bit hot and drying. There’s salted meat, camphor and ash, always with this tart berry note.
Modern Bowmore but without tropical fruits. It’s full on sherry! The nose was outstanding but on the palate I thought it lost the balance a little. Still a high scoring bottle worth tracking down. Unlike some other distilleries, Bowmore doesn’t offer these bottlings online.