Bowmore 25 Year Old 1997 vintage Islay single malt Scotch whisky. Single Oloroso sherry butt #2422 bottled February 2023 by Signatory Vintage for the (Andrew) Symington’s Choice collection. 616 numbered bottles.
Nose: paraffin, mineral notes, grapefruits and lime. Hints of sourdough. Then oysters, damp gravel and hints of wet tweed. Apple peelings and barbecued pineapple. Lovely mango custard with vanilla as it opens up, as well as a whiff of medicinal menthol. Pretty perfect.
Mouth: really perfect. Exotic fruit juice mixed with seawater. Mango, pink grapefruit and passion fruits. Lemon liqueur, waxy hints and a slightly acrid, grassy smokiness. A few drops of late harvest Riesling too. Increasingly coastal, with drops of herbal tea towards the end.
Finish: long, slightly drier and more herbal, with vague smoke, a little beeswax and the usual seawater.
A beautiful hattrick! Overall this Bowmore stands out in my book, but I’m in a period when I’m rather partial to these tropical fruits with evolved peat. It needs some time but it’s all I ask for in old Bowmore
BOWMORE SINGLE MALT WHISKY
Bowmore Distillery was established by David Simpson in 1779 on the Isle of Islay. Situated by the shore of Loch Indaal it is amongst the oldest working distilleries on Islay and one of the oldest malt whisky distilleries in Scotland. Bowmore Distillery continues to produce a proportion of its malted barley on its own traditional malting floors and malt kilns. Bowmore Distillery is a participant in Feis Isle, the Islay Festival of Malt and Music during which special bottlings. Popular official bottlings include Bowmore 12 Year Old, 15 Year Old and 25 Year Old.
