Bowmore No.1

Bought: Tesco, 25^th May 2017

Ratings:
90.5/100 – Whisky Bible 2018
80.45/100 – Whiskybase (average from 22 member votes)

The Bowmore No.1, new in 2017, replaces the ‘Small Batch’, which appeared in 2014. Both are NAS (no age statement) and matured in bourbon casks so you have to wonder if anyone will notice the difference? The No.1, unlike the Small Batch, is exclusively aged in first-fill bourbon casks, so maturation is quicker. I hope this doesn’t mean the No.1 is younger than the Small Batch, which was young enough!

The Small Batch on Whiskybase ended up with a score of 81.5/100 after 229 votes so the No.1 is lagging behind, although it’s early days yet. Comments on Whiskybase include, “reminds me rather of a strongly diluted mixture of (too) young Laphroaig and Caol Ila” and “the sweet ashes are nothing special but nice. For me this has more than a few mistakes”. At least someone on Amazon says, “wonderful nose you can’t go wrong with Bowmore”, but another comment adds, “spend the extra for the 12yr old. You won’t regret it.” Or get the 9yo if you’re on a budget and prefer a sherry influence instead of bourbon.

Tasting notes from Master of Malt:

Nose: Nutella on brown bread, sea salt and a hint of lemon zest.
Palate: Vanilla notes are up front and sweet (though earthy vanilla pod does appear after a minute). Plenty of coastal peat smoke.
Finish: Lingering smokiness.

Here’s Horst Luening of Whisky.com with his thoughts on YouTube about the Bowmore No.1 (May 2017):

Bowmore 9-year-old

Bought: Amazon, 1^st December 2016

Ratings:
83.14/100 – Whiskybase (average from 156 member votes)
81/100 – Ralfy (of www.ralfy.com)

Independent bottlers have been happily putting sub-10yo age statements on bottles for years but it’s not something you commonly see from distilleries. As aged stock started to run out we’ve seen more and more NAS (non-age statement) bottles creeping onto the market from distilleries, which have usually been met with disdain and disgust from the whisky drinking community. Personally I don’t see what’s wrong with putting 9yo, or 8yo, or even 5yo on a bottle, and clearly Bowmore agree with me. Released in 2016, the Bowmore 9-year-old, matured in sherry casks, comes in under 10-years-old but has been applauded for its honesty. Well done Bowmore!

Scoring over 83/100 on Whiskybase is a very good mark. Comments include “I do like the young age which gives it some more edges and spices in comparison to the 15yo Darkest” and “a very respectable dram that I look forward to returning to. It’s not going to set the world on fire, but I would certainly consider recommending it to someone looking to try a sherry-peat combination without breaking the bank”.

Tasting notes from whisky expert Mark Durmel:

Nose: Sherried nose with all kinds of fruit like oranges, figs and nuts. Some burnt coffee beans and wet newspaper. Soft peat. Not very outspoken in my opinion. Kind of docile.
Taste: The body is quite alright and on the palate it turns quite maritime as well. A lot of peat and salt precede the mildly drying wood and sweet fruit. The sherry cask – very prominent on the nose – does not stand a chance on the palate. I get some tobacco and cloves, but this young malt has little else on offer.
Finish: Medium long finish, that leaves the mouth dry.

81/100 maybe a low mark from Ralfy (his 25 minute You Tube review here) but at least he considers it worthy of a video. Bang for buck, this Bowmore certainly seems like a winner.

Here’s Horst Luening of Whisky.com with his thoughts about the Bowmore 9yo (Feb 2017):

Big Peat – 20cl

Bought: Master of Malt, 3^rd August 2016

Ratings:
96/100 – Whisky Bible 2011
8.5/100 – Jo from Whisky Wednesday (video below)
84.83/100 – Whiskybase (average from 25 member votes)

Big Peat first appeared in the Whisky Bible in 2011 with a fantastic score of 96/100. In the latest edition batch 30 scores 92/100 and batch 31 scores 90.5/100, which means quality has slipped a little (according to the author) but not by much. Unfortunately my 20cl bottle doesn’t have a batch number on it but according to Whiskybase this quarter bottle first appeared in 2009. I’m hoping my version dates back to that time and the epic 96/100. The author concludes with “had the Caol Ila been reduces slightly, and with it the oils, this might well have been World Whisky of the Year”. Praise indeed.

Big Peat is a vatting together of Islay single malts. Douglas Laing who make Big Peat describe it as “Caol Ila spirit bringing sweetness, Bowmore the perfect balance, Ardbeg the medicinal, earthy quality and Port Ellen, a degree of elegance”. But as the price of Port Ellen rises you have to think there’s very little going into the Big Peat mix. I bet I won’t be able to identify it. Nevertheless Big Peat is a classic of its time and a dram that every whisky enthusiast should try eventually.

20cl tasting notes provided on Whiskybase:

Nose: Earthy, mossy and briney. That smoked kipper quality. Some ripe fruits lurk.
Taste: The smoke coats and fills the mouth. A decent oak roasted salmon oiliness. Leaves a little salt as well.
Finish: Long with plenty of smoke and sweet honey.

Here’s Jo from Whisky Wednesday with his review on You Tube (June 2015):

Bowmore 12-year-old

Bought: Waitrose, 4^th June 2016

Ratings:
91/100 – Whisky Bible 2016
80.95/100 – Whiskybase (from 436 member votes)

I’m surprised it’s taken me nearly 600 whiskies before adding this classic Bowmore to my collection. Or am I surprised? It’s a nice enough whisky but unlikely to be an investment and there are cheaper examples of Bowmore on the market. As Islay whiskies go the Bowmore 12yo is in the same price bracket as the Laphroaig 10yo, which is arguably nicer malt for Islay fans. But the Bowmore 12yo does have its place on the market, especially for those who’d like to give peat a try without going headlong into an Ardbeg gustatory tongue-tango.

Scoring 91/100 from Jim Murray in his Whisky Bible classifies this single malt as “brilliant”. Mr Murray says of the taste “soft, beautiful delivery of multi-layered peats; lots of effervescent spices and molassed sugars; spices abound.” He summarises with “this new bottling still proudly carries the Fisherman’s Friend cough sweet character, but the coastal, saline properties here are a notch or three up: far more representative of Islay and the old distillery style. Easily by far the truest Bowmore I have tasted in a long while with myriad complexity. Even going back more than a quarter of a century, the malt at this age rarely showed such relaxed elegance. Most enjoyable.”

81/100 on Whiskybase is a good mark but what you’d expect from an average of over 400 votes for a 12-year-old single malt. Comments include “disappointing overall, too watered down, I expected more from the price and pedigree”, “works better overall compared to the disappointing 15yo” and “very nice profile, of course not complex or full bodied, but nice entry malt/intro to the Bowmore distillery.” Several members feel this single malt would benefit from being stronger than 40% to help with the depth and body.

Here’s Luke Rymarz with his review on You Tube (January 2014):

Bowmore ‘Black Rock’

Bought: World Duty Free, 2^nd July 2015

Ratings:
87.5/100 – Whisky Bible 2015
79.48/100 – Whiskybase (average from 152 member votes)

Before I go to an airport I like to plan in advance what whisky I’m interested in. This might work if ‘World Duty Free’ list all their available whisky online but they don’t. When I got to Gatwick airport I discovered several new spirits including this Bowmore. It was also reduced to £40, which seemed very reasonable for a 1ltr bottle. I quite like the subtle Islay flavours of Bowmore so I decided to take the plunge and buy a bottle, even if it was obviously riddled with caramel colourant.

Around 80/100 on Whiskybase is a reasonable mark but it doesn’t help that one member rated it 1/100 even though they loved it. You have to hope that the other 151 voters managed to get the scoring system correct. A member scoring the ‘Black Rock’ 85/100 said “while I’ve had better Bowmores, this is a surprisingly well made dram. It’s young alright but it does not suffer the young age maladies, and feels very good on the palate, with the right balance of peat and sherry. A good buy if you’re a Bowmore fan and you’re travelling soon. I liked it quite a bit.”

Scoring 87.5/100 in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible classifies the Black Rock as “very good to excellent whisky definitely worth buying”. He describes it as a friendly, full-bodied dram with smoked toasted fudge as the main theme with a vague backdrop of cinnamon and marmalade. He summarises with “if you are looking for a gentle giant, they don’t come more wimpish than this”.

Here is a whisky tasting by Horst Luening of Whisky.com (YouTube Sept 2014):

Bowmore ‘Small Batch Reserve’

Bought – Sainsbury’s, 22^th September 2014

Ratings:
80.5/100 – Whisky Bible 2014
81.78/100 – Whiskybase (average from 69 member votes)

I’d hate to know what Bowmore describe as a “Large Batch” given how long I’ve seen bottles of this “small” batch on the shelves of local supermarkets. Perhaps a large batch of Bowmore would go on forever, or until someone noticed that the level of the Irish Sea had gone down. Thankfully I can’t see any fish swimming around in my bottle!

The Whisky Bible has very little to say about this single malt. Small by name, small by review. It does however score 21/25 for taste, which equates to a very respectable 84/100. Just shy of 82/100 on Whiskybase is a surprisingly good score with comments of “well made for a young malt” and “seriously good value for money”.

As I write this, Morrisons supermarket have this Bowmore for £24.99 but I’m stunned to see that The Whisky Exchange online are trying to sell it for £36.99! It’s certainly not worth that much. £25 is a fair price for this non-aged statement single malt that will give you a pleasant taste experience from a good, well established Islay distillery.

Here’s Horst Luening of Whisky.com on You Tube with his thoughts about this entry-level Bowmore (April 2014):

Argyll 12-year-old

Bought – Online Whisky Auction, 22nd December 2013

Ratings:
88/100 – Whiskybase (from 1 member vote – 757ml version)

Another mystery malt?! It looks very likely. Digging around on the internet I found that a similar black jug of whisky was made for the QE2 cruise ship. Like the Argyll, the QE2 jug was bottled by Beinn Bhuidhe Holding Ltd, Inveraray, Scotland. I found a discussion about the QE2 malt on a forum where the holding company was identified as Morrison Bowmore Ltd. It was agreed that the QE2 whisky was most likely Auchentoshan, owned by Morrison Bowmore distillers ltd. Perhaps this Argyll 12yo is Auchentoshan? Unfortunately Morrison Bowmore also own two other distillers, Bowmore and Glen Garioch. The Argyll could be one of those.

As this is my first little whisky jug in my collection I had a look on Ebay to find out what empty jugs sell for. I was stunned! My Argyll only cost about £2 with whisky in it but I could sell the empty bottle on Ebay for 2 or 3 times that price, or even more! Funny to think that the whisky inside is free!

Rob Roy

Bought – Online Whisky Auction, 31st October 2013

Ratings:
88/100 – Whisky Bible 2006

Because I bought this miniature at auction I don’t know its exact age but it looks quite new.  One of the principal blends from the Bowmore distillery on Islay, Jim Murray in his 2006 bible says of it “a profound whisky with big malt character and impressive complexity. A real no-nonsense, blend-drinker’s dram.”

Ross Priory (Bowmore)

Bought – Online Whisky Auction, 31st October 2013

It was clear from the number of Bowmore miniatures for sale in the auction that someone was selling off a collection. I had no idea Bowmore had so many obscure releases! There were Bowmore bottlings for different birds of Britain, airplanes, Scottish Power, railway lines, famous golfers and even one for the centenial of the Forth Road Bridge.

I attempted to bid on several bottles but ended up with only one, paying £1.50 for a Bowmore labelled for Ross Priory, which is the recreational and conference centre for the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. This venue caters for weddings, provides bed and breakfast and offers golf, angling and boating. With a bar and a lounge bar it’s a perfect place to have a mini whisky available for guests. A malty souvenir to remember the place by.

This is another miniature that nearly had me fooled. I thought it was a single malt but it says on the label “Blended and Bottled by Morrison Bowmore” so that sounds like a blend to me. Bowmore’s principal blends are Rob Roy and Black Bottle, so I’ll have to try this Ross Priory and see if it contains one of the standard Bowmore blends.

Bowmore 12-year-old 1980s

Acquired 3rd October 2013. Part of my ‘Customs & Excise’ collection.

Ratings:
91/100 – Whisky Bible 2013 (for the modern version)
89.4/100 – Whiskybase (average from 110 member votes)

No review from Ralfy of www.ralfy.com on this specific bottling but he bought a full size version in an auction which he reveals in this following video 7 minutes and 30 seconds in: Buying whiskies at auction. He mentions doing a review in the future where he compares this old version of Bowmore with the current one. Perhaps I’ll do that one day, once I’ve bought a new 12yo.