Whisky : Bowmore 1997 Distillery Manger’s Selection 22 Year

Country/Region : Scotland/Islay

ABV : 51.7%

Cask : First fill Oloroso Sherry Hogshead (bottle 1702/3000)

Age : 22 Years (1997-2019)

Tasting : Neat in a Glencairn @ Peat Whisky Preview

Nose : Burning incense, rosemary, and dried pine needles.  Lovely and rich, the nose begins with delicate, but sinus clearing herbal notes.  A dark, concentrated, and salty umami slowly emerges; it is dark shoyu, black vinegar, or blackened sea salt.  Black plums and juicy stone fruits lurk in the background.

Palate :  A sweet and syrupy body that opens with pungent rich sandalwood.  If there was such thing as a wood bomb (though without the astringency that might imply), this would be it.  Notes of cherry, dark chocolate, and espresso; there is a rich bitterness that follows the wood.  Sweeter notes of concentrated sun dried fruits or straw/raisin wine like Amarone are syrupy and thick.  Wonderfully complex as it hits different notes across the palate.

Finish : More typical Bowmore notes of tar, salt, and old leather emerge on the backend and linger on the finish.  

Score : 9

Mental Imagine : Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.  Snow blows on the cold wind outside

Something Similar (but worse) :  Bowmore 12 Year Exclusive Malts (heavier sherry funk, younger peat, a young teen to this bottles mature adult)

Something Much Worse : Bowmore 15 Year ‘Darkest’ (much lighter body, quicker finish)

Notes : I honestly want to claim on the nose that I smell snow.  I did not write that above because the thought of it is absurd.  I know people can smell rain based on slight chemical shifts in the atmosphere, but I have never before thought I could smell a snow coming.  Maybe it is the pine and the incense— the memory of a Christmas Mass that gives the impression of the faintly sweet and fresh smell of snow. The nose is so complex that I kept coming back to it over and over again.  Even after I started sipping the dram, I noticed I kept subconsciously nosing the glass and I would realize I was not taking notes on the palate— I was stuck on the aroma.  The two senses are of course tightly linked, but I like to try to differentiate the experience as best I can.

This was absolutely stunning.  It was wonderfully complex.  It was not overly sweet, overly funky, or overly influenced by the oloroso.  It was a goldilocks dram, hitting so many different notes so well.  If it had one major weakness it would be on the finish.  If the finish was a bit longer or matched the palate a bit more, it would have been stunning.  However, the finish is the only thing that really reminds you that this is a Bowmore and there is certainly some virtue in the distinctness of the distillery saying hello at some point.

Is this worth buying?  I suppose that depends on whether or not you find dropping $600 on a bottle to be jaw dropping, head shaking, potentially doable, or no big thing.  I did give this an A- and it is easily without a doubt the best Bowmore I have ever had, but I am not in the habit of spending even half this bottle’s going price on a scotch.  If you figure the Bowmore ‘Darkest’ 15 Year to be around $80, a dram to which I gave a D, is it worth the 7.5x higher price tag to hit an A?  Maybe...?  Honestly this bottle sits just outside my preferred flavor range, it is absolutely excellent, but it scratches an itch I do not have.  If $600 sounds like a reasonable sum to you— or you just need an absolutely lovely heavily sherried well-aged peated dram— this might be for you.  If money was no issue, I would happily keep this in my closet to take out for discerning drinkers.