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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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November 2, 2016 |
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There is a new – and last – Black Bowmore 1964 that was introduced on Halloween at £16,000 a skittle, but we haven’t got it, and that is why we’ll rather try a 1963. There. We might add a few other unusual Bowmores to this wee flight, we’ll see… |
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Bowmore 25 yo 1963/1989 (43%, Hart Bros, Auxil, France, 75cl)  I’m having this ultra-rare oldie first because I’ve already tried it (informally) and because I know it’s pretty fragile. I didn’t say weak. Colour: gold. Nose: ah well, it’s like most Bowmores from the 1960s, they are ugly when the bottle was just opened, and will need quite a few days to open up. But then, well… In fact, this one reminds of when my excellent friend Krishna had brought some Indian mangos to Europe. So, mangos. Not mangos that ripened (supposedly) in containers on a ship. And maracujas, pink grapefruits, concrete dust, beach sand, and the tiniest bit of pineapple. In fact, this is no very complex whisky, but any mango lover will just adore it. Are you a mango lover? Mouth: yeah, indeed, the bottle had just got opened when I first tried it, but now that it could breathe for a few weeks, it simply became splendid. Mangos, as you guessed it, more passion fruits, citrons, blood oranges, mandarins, lavender honey (which does not taste like lavender mind you), Timut pepper (ever tried that Nepalese pepper? It’s incredibly fruity), a touch of tamarind perhaps, a little strawberry jam… What an amazing fruitiness! Finish: short to medium, just a tad more on tobacco, but otherwise, it’s still a whole tropical fruit salad. Comments: excuse me? Peat? No, no peat in this old Bowmore. I guess it got all transmuted into all those tropical fruits. Oops, forgot to ask you to call the anti-maltoporn brigade again. SGP:741 - 93 points. |
Well, let’s simply try another rare old one… |
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Bowmore 21 yo ‘500 Years of Scotch Whisky’ (43%, OB, Islay blended Scotch whisky, 6000 bottles, 1994)  A rather intriguing bottle, as it clearly says that it’s a blend, while the Bowmore brand and other parts of the whole marketing shebang (silkscreened design…) have been used. What’s sure is that if it’s a blend indeed, or even a blended malt, they couldn’t do this anymore. Now rumour has it that it is Bowmore, with just a few litres of Auchentoshan and Glen Garioch thrown in. Colour: gold. Nose: intriguing indeed, since it’s not typically Bowmore. For instance, there’s little tropicalness, and rather a combination of honey, chocolate, praline, and cakes. Some green tea as well, earl grey, green tobacco, a wee bit of rusty tin, then rather some oldish leather, old polished furniture, a touch of camphor… It’s quite complex indeed, and while I do not find any Auchentoshan, there could well be some early 1970s Glen Garioch. Not bad news! Mouth: hesitates for a few seconds, just before a peppery and smoky blast occurs. It’s to be remembered that Glen Garioch was peaty back then! So rather not a Bowmorian peat here, rather a combination of farmy and coastal peats. Yeah. Also Glen Garioch’s leathery side, and Bowmore’s tropical fruits. I have to say it loses you a bit, but it’s certainly very good. Perhaps a little too much paraffin? Finish: rather long, and rather more both tropical and topical. So Bowmorian. Mango chutney and milk chocolate. Sadly, the aftertaste is a little soapy. Comments: a strange dram, really. You can’t help trying to analyse it, while you just shouldn’t and rather enjoy it ‘for itself’. Or, they could have called it ‘The Jolly Old Fellows’ 21 Years Old Blend’ instead of ‘Bowmore’. Oh well… SGP:552 - 84 points. |
I agree, we’ve had enough oldies, let’s try some new stuff… |
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Bowmore 13 yo 2002/2016 (51.5%, Hart Bros) This should be fiery… Colour: gold. Nose: home! Perfect modern Bowmore without any excessive carpentery (I’m sure you see what I mean), no obvious wood, and no obvious wine. Amazing medicinal smokiness, bandages, camphor, seawater, dried kelp, and all that. And no vanilla/coconut that get in the way. Mouth: we all know Bowmore are making one the very best malt spirits out there since around twenty years. When the bottlers let that malt sing, and do not use silly wood, you’re in for a fantastic serenade. What’s more, some of the 1960s’ tropical fruits are back since around the year 2000, and this baby’s another very fine example. You got it, I quite like this wee bottle. Finish: very long, peaty, with grapefruits and oranges, plus more pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: crikey, forgot to add water once again. Never mind, this is pretty brilliant when naked, in my opinion. After 25 years since you bottled that first Bowmore, you did extremely well again, Hart Brothers! SGP:557 - 90 points. |
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Bowmore 25 yo 1990/2016 ‘Pagliacci’ (49.6%, Silver Seal)  Our very good friends at Silver Seal are going on with their musical series, this time with Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci. I can’t wait to see which malt they’ll choose for Stockhausen or Frank Zappa. Yeah or Pixie Lott. To the whisky connoisseur, 1990 was the vintage when things started to improve again at Bowmore, after the very embarrassing 1980s. Colour: straw. Nose: strange. I mean, I don’t quite know. We’re at some crossroads, with a slightly soapy, perfumy, and rotting-orange-y side, as well as a more straightforward, peaty, coastal, and ‘pure’ side. It’s as if someone had vatted together a cask of 1982 and a cask of 2002. Really. And that created something like, say some new leather polished with some Christian Dior hand cream. Mouth: phew! This palate looks on the brighter side, with some lemony seawater and then an avalanche of citrus (won’t quote them all, we’re running on a small budget) Plus many peppers. Great palate, sharp, zesty, and excellently well-chiselled. Finish: long, and lace-y. Carved in peat and sea salt. Drizzles of lemon in the aftertaste. Comments: let’s be honest, I did not care too much for the nose – even if it tended to improve while breathing – but the palate was just entrancing. Oh well, just don’t nose and drink twice. SGP:755 - 88 points. |
Since we were talking about the 1980s… |
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Bowmore 1989/2016 ‘Barbecue Mango Salsa’ (46%, Wemyss Malts, hogshead, 234 bottles)  Barbecue mango salsa? I’d like to know what brand of cigarettes they’re smoking at Wemyss’ marketing department. Oh no, you don’t tell me that’s rather gin-and-tonic, like everywhere else in the whisky industry! Anyway, let’s try this 1989 – and I need lights and sirens! Colour: straw. Nose: smoky marzipan, hand cream, beach sand, old seaweed, paraffin, fusel oil, carbon paper, damp magazines. Mixed feelings, but we weren’t expecting this much… Mouth: it’s okay, it’s okay! We’re on the good side, the perfumy (you thought whore-ish, I didn’t) notes are kept to the minimum, and the almondy, salty, lemony and coastal ones prevail. Let’s not forget the epitomical kippers and smoked salmons. Finish: medium, unexpectedly clean and, well, clean, with good peat and good white pepper. And grapefruits. Almond paste in the aftertaste. Comments: nothing to complain about, this is a 1989 that is rather leaning towards the 1990s. Like! Now, where is this barbecue mango salsa?... Where?... And what is barbecue mango salsa, by the way? SGP:554 - 86 points. |
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