Whisky: Bowmore 25 Year (1990), Rest & Be Thankful

Country/Region: Scotland/Islay

ABV: 53.7%

Cask: Bourbon Cask

Age: 25 Years (Distilled 24 April 1990, Bottled 27 April 2015)

Nose: Maritime, sandy beaches, dried citrus rind, tobacco, camphor, sandstone; hints of seaweed, ginger, cotton paper, and white pepper

Palate: Medium-bodied, oily, maritime and briny, tobacco, driftwood and seaweed on the beach, ginger biscuits, whole nutmeg, tarred ropes, pepper.

Finish: Long and lingering with brine, tobacco, spice, and minerals.

Score: 8

Mental Image: Privateers and Pirates at Batavia

Narrative & Notes: The aroma was refined and complex with an initial gust of salty maritime air along a sun-drenched sandy beach. A lovely minerality hung in the air with sandstone, cotton paper, and dried citrus rinds, which slowly faded as tobacco and camphor arrived. Further in the background were hints of seaweed, almost algae-like on occasion, dried ginger, and white pepper. The palate was medium-bodied and more intensely maritime than the nose as my tongue came under direct fire from the salt-crusted cannons of some ghostly pirate ship raised from the deep. Tobacco and camphor transmuted to driftwood and seaweed baking under the sun. Ginger biscuits, peppercorns, and whole nutmegs brought to mind spice traders, smugglers, and pirates with tarred ropes and saltwater. The finish was long and salty with tobacco, spice, and minerals.

Have you ever thought about buying a bottle over and over again and repeatedly talked yourself down because the price was three to four times what you were willing, or could afford, to pay? I kept doing that with this bottle. My average rating for R&BT is far above any other independent bottler, and their bottles have never let me down. I desperately wanted to try this older Bowmore and see what sort of cask they got their hands on. However, the price was always way too high.

Thankfully a friend picked up a bottle at a discount on auction and offered to share it with a few others. Finally, I could put to bed my curiosity and see for myself what the bottle was worth.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with what I found. It was not quite what I expected, but I loved the maritime flavor profile and the tobacco, driftwood, and seaweed notes, which always reminded me a little of Jura. I am still not feeling the need to run out and spend $400 on a bottle, but if I suddenly had the means (come on, lottery ticket), it would be tempting.

Image Credit: Whisky Auctioneer

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.