Whisky : Bowmore 12 Year; The Exclusive Malts

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 58.4%

Cask : Refill Sherry Butt

Age : 12 Year (Distilled Sept. 25, 2001, Bottled Jan. 2014)

Tasting : Neat in a Glencairn @ Home

Nose : Old diesel powered motor boat.  There are dirty sea soaked dock rags stained with motor oil and fish entrails.  Faint orange and tart grape fruit give a faintly fruity and citrus edge to the primary petroleum notes.  Smoked sea salt and burnt coconut husks provide an emphatic shore side smoke.

Palate : Tar, petroleum, diesel, and pine resin— it is medium bodied with a bit of hot plastic, balsamic vinegar, and old shoe.  Faint salt, sweet, and meat notes are a bit like a grilled hot dog covered in a sweet relish with a side of potato chips.  However, no matter where I turn, petroleum notes dominate like an oil spill covering the silty brown waters of the delta.  My wife did not have quite the same impression of petrol, perhaps it was there, but not so strong.  For her the dram was salty cucumbers and a pungent oily smoked salmon with hints of slightly burnt bitter herbs and a creamy mouthfeel.

Finish : Lingering petroleum and hot plastic; the oil spills begins to break.

Score : 5

Mental Image : One whiff of the diesel notes on this and suddenly I am back, a kid again, at the fore of my grandfather’s motor boat.  The little boat leaves a low trail of diesel smoke as well cruise around the lake on a summer day stopping to swim, fish, or grill hotdogs.  The taste of this is the dirty lake water, salty chips, and rumbling motor of those distant days.

Something Better : Arran Smuggler Series Vol. 3 : The Exciseman (more kerosine than diesel, more wax, similar orange, more savory)

Something Similar : Compass Box No Name Ed. 1 (similar tar/oil, more sea/salt, more citrus) 

Something Worse : Bowmore 15 Year (similar diesel/petroleum, less finish, more sugar/candy)

Notes : Memory and taste are closely intertwined.  Our ability to describe a flavor depends on having the vocabulary to render it recognizable— to connect it with prior experience.  This dram immediately trigger what Marcel Proust referred to as an involuntary memory; the smell of the Bowmore surfaced memories that I was not consciously trying to recall.  Once the effect began and the connection between scent and memory was made, I could not taste or smell anything but those summer days on the lake— pungent diesel, silty water, and salty potato chips.

Having shared notes with a few compatriots and my wife, I know that while a few of them did pick up some oil or tar or petroleum or plastic.  They found a lot more funky sweet sherry notes; red apple skin, whey, butter, ripe cheese, mineral, cherry pits.  I got a bit of that, but could not escape the power of my own experience and the immediate connection to sun soaked life-vests or the puttering of the engine.

No matter which flavor profile you end up on, this dram made a great impression.  It had an excellent mouthfeel, a complex palate, and a long finish.  I recognize that diesel and hot plastic are hardly the most mouth watering flavor notes.  There is a sinus penetrating chemical quality to them that I found quite pleasant… but hey, maybe I totally imagined them.