Whisky: Bowmore 24 Year (1997), Alistair Walker Whisky Co. Infrequent Flyers Cask 2690

Country/Region: Scotland/Islay

ABV: 48.4%

Cask: New Oak Finish

Age: 24 Years (Distilled 1997, Bottled 2021)

Nose: Flower beds and sweet loam, hints of pickled plum, tart blackberry, cassia bark, Sharpie markers; hints of orange rind, clove, coffee beans, and vanilla bean.

Palate: Medium-bodied, occasionally tannic, cinnamon, vanilla, Sharpie markers, poster board, chocolate, berries and earthy decay, hints of orange rind, cinnamon, and leather.

Finish: Medium-length and drying with orange, pepper, and cinnamon.

Score: 4

Mental Image: Endor Regional Science Fair

Narrative & Notes: Arboreal and musty, the aroma presented a traipse through the forest, or a garden flower bed, with the sweet scent of earthy decay and wet loam. Fruitier notes were slow to arrive, but pickled plums and tart blackberries made it with a subtle cassia bark and a not-so-subtle Sharpie marker. Hints of orange rind, clove, dark roasted coffee beans, and vanilla beans lingered in the background. Medium-bodied, the palate presented berries, cinnamon, and vanilla between notions of Sharpie markers and poster-making supplies. Chocolate emerged later with some of the earthy decay of the nose and new leather. Hints of orange rind, cinnamon, poster board, and markers lingered at the end. The finish was medium-length and quite drying with subtle orange, pepper, and cinnamon.

If the aroma took me on a hike through the forest, the palate put me right in the middle of making a science fair poster board about the experience. The virgin oak finish on this stood out far too much for my liking, and I imagine that was the source of the Sharpie marker notes. There were moments when it all seemed to come together, especially when fruit and berry notes appeared, but those brief flavor eclipses were too infrequent.

Overall, this was not to my taste, though it has some fans on whiskybase, even if no one posted anything beyond a score at the time of writing. Not every whisky will work for everyone, so I am glad there were fans of this because it was a swing and a miss with me.

Image Credit: The Whisky World

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.