Side by side : Bimber Selfridges

With the imminent release of @BimberLondon's third  @Selfridges bottling, here's a look at the first two.

Let see what they are like!

Dram	Selfridges 2020	Selfridges 2021
Characteristics	51.5% ABV 4 Bourbon casks (#544-7) finished in a ex-Gonzales Oloroso Butt (#67)	51.5% ABV Gonzal Byass Palo Cortado Sherry Butt (#258-7/62)
Distillery notes	This expression was laid down to mature initially in four American ex-bourbon casks before being finished in a 2010 vintage Oloroso sherry cask from Gonzalez Byass. It was matured for an undisclosed length of time before being bottled in June 2020 with there being just 936 individually numbered bottles produced exclusively for Selfridges.	This expression was laid down to mature in a single 2010 vintage Palo Cortado sherry butt. It was matured for an undisclosed length of time before being bottled in 2021 with there being just 950 individually numbered bottles produced exclusively for Selfridges.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Typical Bimber DNA for me 3 C's : cereal, citrus and cardamom. There's some orchard fruit and the circa 4 month oloroso finish has added some berry notes and a sweetness.	Huge sherry notes: dunnage warehouse, blueberry jam, dried fruit and burnt toffee. A little chocolate and a hint of sulphur are here too. There's a little of the Bimber citrus and cardamom but the cereal has gone.
Palate	Smooth sweet arrival, honey, brown sugar and caramel to start, there's a little bite of cardamom and pepper spice which fades to leave red berries, plums and dates. The oloroso influence much more prominent on the palate than the nose. Orange peel, balsamic vinegar and chocolate finish off a complex dram.	Thick chewy arrival, brown sugar and honey giving sweetness; cardamom and white pepper giving spice. The berries, dried fruit, dates and figs you'd expect from full term  Palo Cortado are here too with some walnuts, chocolate, and a little salinity.
Finish	Short, cardamom spice, dried fruit and chocolate.	Lingering berry jam, dried fruit and a little cardamom spice. Yummy!
Overall	The oloroso finish was much more prominent on the palate than the nose, maybe 4 months wasn't quite long enough?  This reminds me a little of Batch 3 of the Oloroso Small Batch - I'm guessing similar liquid finished in a brand name oloroso cask? The full term Palo Cortado has a much better dram, taking on more of the sherry influence at the expense of some of the Bimber DNA, but that's to be expected with a maturation in anything but ex-bourbon! This reminded me a lot of the James Eadie 13yo Caol Ila - all it was missing was a little peat smoke!