
November 23, 2016

One of the rarest and other Bowmore

We’ll go vertically, as we like to do. Bowmore is one of the distillates that are the most fascinating to ‘follow’ throughout the years. Yeah I agree, maybe not throughout the very unlikely 80s…

Bowmore 15 yo 2001/2016 (52.5%, The Whisky Barrel, Burns Malt, bourbon barrel, cask #31931)

Colour: gold. Nose: a little bacony, then lemony and seawatery, with perfect peat smoke and peppery seaweed. More or less so. And it’s appropriately kilny. I know, too many barbarisms, but I’m sure you get the idea. Pure unadulterated middle-aged Bowmore. With water: what some call ‘a sweet peat’. Wet fabric, apples, citrons, bonfire, seawater. Mouth (neat): typical. Lemons, tangerines, peat smoke, salt, plus a touch of passion fruit and mango. It’s not the first time that I’m finding ‘echoes’ of the 1960s at Bowmore in recent distillates. Can’t be bad news! With water: perfectly chiselled topical peat. Finish: medium, perhaps not totally deep and profound, but these peaty citrons are perfect. Rather salty aftertaste, as often. Comments: a little softer than other Bowmores from the early 2000s, perhaps. Extremely good nonetheless. This starts well. SGP:556 - 88 points.

Bowmore 15 yo 1998/2013 (50%, Hunter Laing, Old Malt Cask, refill hogshead, cask # #10228, 325 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: less sweetness, more dryness. Chimneys and coal and soot, plus ink and carbon paper, plus kelp. No ‘tropicalness’ this time, and very few fruits altogether. With water: plain kilned seawater. Could you kiln seawater? And Islay mud. Mouth (neat): perfect smoky lemons and salty peppered fish. No more, no less. With water: a little more sweetness, a little more soot as well. Drinking smoky oyster water. Finish: long, dry, and very ashy this time. You just ate the ashtray. Comments: a very different style, more austere, less ‘easy’. Not less good. SGP:367 - 88 points.

Bowmore 1997/2015 ‘Shellfish Platter’ (46%, Wemyss Malts, hogshead, 330 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: ah yes, a petroly one this time. Engine oil, diesel, tar, pitch, old fisherman’s ropes, the whole shebang. And seawater, naturally. Mouth: sharp, peppery, and rather immensely ashy and smoky. As our good friend Dave B would have said, it’s very kippery. Forgot to mention almonds. Finish: rather long, a little plasticine-y, almondy, salty, and yeah, kippery, iodized. Comments: my preferred style as far as modern Bowmores are concerned. Wemyss have great Bowmores. SGP:357 - 90 points.

Wemyss? Wemyss!...

Bowmore 1990/2015 ‘Briny Tangle’ (46%, Wemyss Malts, hogshead, 265 bottles)

A more ‘dangerous’ vintage. You could still find echoes of the very whacky (and, as some used to say, whore-ish) 1980s… Colour: pale gold. Nose: hurray, no lavender, no French whore perfume, no Walmart-quality deodorizer, rather an almondy, slightly barleyish, and rather vegetal nose. Artichokes and samphires, touches of truffles (no sulphur), Barbour grease, and soot. More and more soot. Mouth: yeah, very good. Salted smoked almonds, artisan limoncello, and smoked salmon, plus limestone, chalk, cigar ashes. Finish: not that long, but all on lovely ashy lemons and quite some seawater. Comments: perhaps a little ‘immediate’ than the 1997, but of similar very high quality. A mezcaly Bowmore. Very well done again, Wemyss. SGP:367 - 90 points.

A last one, and since this is a verticale…

Bowmore 30 yo (51.4%, OB, 30th Anniversary of Scottish Licensed Trade News, 3 bottles, 1994)

No typo, there were three bottles of this altogether, which probably makes it the second rarest Bowmore ever, after Giorgio D’Ambrosio’s ‘Jim Clark Bowmore’ (1/1). And as this little glory was bottled in 1994, it may be some 1964 juice, the year of the coveted ‘Black Bowmores’. Except that this very one is much lighter in colour, so, in essence, much more interesting than those very pricy sherry bombs. Colour: gold. Nose: of course. Mangos in clay, passion fruits in chalk, and potpourri in sandalwood. It’s a very delicate old Bowmore, it’s not trumpeting at all, and I would even add that it probably remains a little shy and fragile for a good ten minutes, before more medicinal and rather antique notes start to pop out. Such as old turpentine, or old fur coat, natural furniture polish… The 51.4% do not feel at all, you’d think it was bottled at 40%. So, let’s call it ‘pretty delicate’. Yet, with water: some old abandoned hospital somewhere in northern Scotland. Old antiseptics, balms, and an old quince tree somewhere in the yard. Mouth (neat): totally close to the officials ‘cream labels with purple seagulls’ (1964, 1965…), that is to say all on salty/smoky fruits and the jams made thereof. Mangos of course, tamarind, blood oranges… It’s not often that salted fruits work, but in old Bowmore, they do. Menthol snuff (back in fashion, apparently). With water: water makes the saltiness come out more. Salted oranges, linden honey, salted/honeyed roasted pecans… Now you may be wondering, is it any good? You bet! Finish: reminiscent of some old slightly mentholy Yquems. Not that I’ve tasted hundreds of them, most regrettably. Comments: forgot to ask you to call the anti-maltoporn brigade. Because this is superlative whisky, totally as expected. It was just curiously delicate given the strength on the label. A wee typo, perhaps? SGP:554 - 94 points.

(Thanks to Greg, Paul, and strictly all the wonderful crew at Dornoch Castle, Bar, and Distillery!)

Check the index of all Bowmore I've tasted so far