Whisky: Bowmore 13 Year (2001), AD Rattray

Country/Region: Scotland/Islay

ABV: 57.5%

Cask: Bourbon Hogshead

Age: 13 Years (Distilled 13 March 2001, Bottled 15 Sept. 2014)

Nose: Citrus, chalk, brine, shellfish, medicinal herbs; hints of tar, guava candies, and pineapple.

Palate: Medium-bodied, oily upfront, spirited on the back with brine, vanilla, tarred ropes, charcoal grill, shellfish, hints of citrus and fruit, more salt and iron toward the finish.

Finish: Medium-length, brine and hints of fruit.

Score: 6+

Mental Image:  Ship Breakers and Break Waters

Narrative & Notes: The aroma was bright and citrusy with a lovely brine that slowly faded with time. Medicinal herbs, black tea, and tobacco offered an herbal melody with underlying notes of tar, grilled shellfish, and iron. A subtle layer of tropical fruits gradually moved to the fore with guava candies, pineapple, soursop, and fried plantain. Medium-bodied on the palate, the flavor profile began with an oily briny wash with hints of vanilla and more intense notes of tarred ropes and an old, slightly rusted but ready-to-be-lit charcoal grill. Occasional hints of shellfish on the mid-palate parted as lemony citrus arrived at the end with hints of guava. More salt and iron lingered at the back with a spirited prickle. The finish was medium-length with brine and hints of fruit.

The nose and palate ran in different directions on this one, and I could never seem to bring them back together. A few drops of water did not do the trick, and I have no idea where all those lovely tropical fruits in the aroma went on the palate. They teased at the end but were otherwise subsumed by briny industrial notes of tar and iron. If I tasted this blind, I would have thought it was Laphroaig due to the herbal medicinal notes that came through on the nose and palate.

Overall, the aroma pulled me in one direction, the palate in another. I loved how this smelled, but the flavor profile felt a bit simple and ended with a slightly unpleasant spirited prickle. Beyond those quibbles, I wish the bog-standard Bowmore 12 Year was more like this; I would definitely recommend it more often.

Image Credit: Islay Studios, who carry prints of the beautiful image. Definitely check out their portfolio!

Weekly Theme: Bowmore

I decided to try something new in 2023 with my whisky reviews: theme weeks. Rather than my normal hodgepodge of just reviewing whatever whisky I fancy and posting the reviews in a generally, but not consistently, chronological order, I will attempt to organize my tasting and posting around themes. I am neither certain the themes will always be coherent nor confident that I will relentlessly stick to this. It is an experiment and perhaps a chance to compare more malts side by side.

The theme this week is Bowmore! Bowmore is one of Beam-Suntory’s Islay outposts and the oldest distillery on the island. The malt Bowmore distills is peated to 25-30 ppm, producing a wide variety of flavors depending on fermentation, distillation, and maturation. Bowmore is one of the few Islay distilleries still producing some of its floor maltings. According to the 2022 Malt Whisky Yearbook, just under 1/3 of the malt used at Bowmore comes from its floor maltings, with the rest sourced from Simpsons Malt.

The recent history of Bowmore is full of ups and downs. Whiskies from the 1960s and 70s are frequently regarded as legendary, while Bowmore produced in the 1980s is famous, or infamous, for its lavender and floral notes.  Notes which some whisky commentators equate to soap or cheap perfume. The 1990s were kinder to the distillery; Jim McEwan took the helm as distillery manager in 1986 and global ambassador with the resources of Suntory behind him after 1989. Suntory took complete control of the distillery in 1994 and, over the next decade, remade the distillery’s core lineup and branding.