I have always liked Bowmore, but as vast swathes of modern Scottish distillates continue to merge in vanilla driven style these days I find myself loving its distinctive taste more and more. I think there is also something to be said for the way it has changed in recent decades, arguably those changes have been greater and more striking than at almost any other distillery. We all know what I’m on about. I’m talking about that surreal charge from the most glorious kind of tropical heaven sent whisky that it was up until around the mid 70s, through the mind boggling, perfume sodden weirdness of the 1980s until finally emerging as the super fresh, pristine, coastal beauty it has become today. Whether or not you like (probably not) that bizarre 80s style of Bowmore, I know I don’t, I think the most important thing is that it is precisely this kind of idiosyncrasy that keeps this one of the most fascinating and compelling distilleries in Scotland today. Certainly the current style of distillate it produces is, for me, one of the best in Scotland, it is clean, fresh, zingy, precise, expressive and provides a wonderful balance of coastal, peat and farmyard characteristics, at its best it can even show glimmers of its old 60s glory. I like to think of its 90s renaissance as something akin to what happened at Springbank, you might even call it the Springbank of Islay. But then again you probably shouldn’t because it’s Bowmore and Bowmore is very much its own distillery, something to be admired in these times of homogenization where distillery character seems to be a dying light in too many glasses.

I got six samples of Bowmore in the post recently that range from the late 80s to the late 90s so we’ll have a wee two parter tasting session in honor of that fact. For the sake of fun I’ve arranged them in chronological order rather than in the usual rising degrees of alcohol structure. First up is a 1987.

This is the most acceptable image you get when Googling 'French Whores'

There has been a puncheon full of ink devoted to the subject of why Bowmore from the 1980s tastes the way it does. Accusations of the whisky smelling like Nocturnal Gallic Businesswomen are not unfounded in my view, although my experience with such matters is mercifully thin. In fact if I ever met a French prostitute I’d probably nervously tell her she smelled like Bowmore. Many theories have been posited as to why this style arose, they range from dodgy yeast strains, new condensers that scolded the spirit, badly run stills, poor wood management, added soap during the distillation and any other number of tinkering changes in the production process. I’m not going to go into too much depth because Dave Broom has already written an excellent and pretty definitive report on this subject for Malt Maniacs. What I find most fascinating however is the fact that Bowmore (or rather it’s parent company Suntory) have been unable to admit that there is actually a problem or that these characteristics even existed at all. They went so far as to threaten libel action against early writers who dared to suggest such things. Well I’m not arfaid to say their 80s output was flawed and tastes like a wrestlers armpit that’s been stuffed to the gunnels with lavender and bath soaps. What are they going to do? Come and get me?

Anyway, the fact that the style began to arise around 1979 and disappears around 1989 is very telling indeed. It was clearly a problem that was hidden within the precursors in the spirit. Precursors being the various chemical compounds, congeners and reactionary elements in the new make that are initially dormant but with time in cask become more and more apparent. Precursors are the essence of distillery character, they are the wax in Clynelish, the citrus in Bladnoch and the apples in Glenfiddich. Likewise they were the perfume in Bowmore. Clearly after 10 years of maturation someone in the labs said ‘hang on a second..’ and necessary adjustments were made to alter these elements in the spirit. These changes can be clearly tasted if you try a run of Bowmores from the late 80s through to the early 90s. Interestingly these notes have been found in various examples of Glen Garioch (and Auchentoshan some have claimed) from the same era but have long since disappeared from these distillates as well. I think what we should take away from this is the fact that Bowmore changed for the better and regardless of the fact it had a dodgy decade, it is now very much ‘on form’. In fact, many of the bottlings now emerging from the early nineties with good age behind them are starting to reach the status of minor masterpieces. Lets hope there’s much much more to come…

Bowmore 1987/2010. 22yo. Douglas Laing ‘Old & Rare’. Sherry Finish. 244 Bottles. 56.1%. 70cl.

Colour: Honey

Nose: Lavender, smoke and caramel at first, it’s not too intense but it is definitely of that 80s era. Very fragrant, floral and soft with odd notes of cheese sticks and cookie dough. These profiles are so weird that they can’t seem to help but be compelling, very masochistic whisky if you ask me. Now some nice notes of juniper and some faint touches of burned acrylic. Lets add some water: with water it becomes much smokier and a little more natural, those intense notes of lavender have died down and it is actually quite pleasant, leafy and fresh. Not bad.

Palate: Neat it is hot and intense with some massive notes of lavender soap, violets and perfume with chocolate, prunes, some fairly clean and pleasant sherry and dates. The soap is not too big but when combined with those lavender, violet and perfume notes it is just too much, like when you walk into a cloud of deodorant spray at the gym or something. More slight cheesiness, chalk, some drying oakiness, beeswax and rotten orange peel. With water: soap city, not good. Actually becoming unpleasant now.

Finish: Hot, prickly, floral and perfumy. A perfume burp?

Comments: I would say this is a good example of this extremely individual and bizarre make. 1980’s Bowmore is clearly not a spirit to everyone’s taste, but I think it should be tasted by everyone, if only for the experience. The difference between this and the make from the preceding and following decades is truly remarkable.

Score: 74/100

A recent but somewhat obscure bottling of 1990 Bowmore that was done for the re-launch of the British East India Company.

Bowmore Somerled 1990-2008. 18yo. 46%. 70cl.

Colour: Straw

Nose: It’s all cream and brine in big lolloping quantities at first, delicate notes of fresh vanilla sit comfortably with drier aspects like flints, salt, cotton wool, minerals, greek yoghurt, There is something of an ‘80s’ quality in here but it is so faint and minor you could be forgiven for thinking you imagined it. The whole is just a delicious and distinctive smelling 1990s Bowmore. Super-fresh, uber-pristine, very coastal and wonderfully expressive. The nose goes on with coal, tar, hints of marmite, hessian, earthy peat, farmyard, engine oil and some tinned peaches. Some intensely fresh notes of mineral, lemon, wet pebble and seashore at the back.

Palate: Slightly stinky at first with vegetal, earthy and farmy aspects but freshens out as you go moving into more coastal and citrusy areas. Almost a glycerol peat, it’s not huge, not as big as the peat tended to get in Bowmore after 93/94 but it is distinctively velvety and oily in the way it manifests here. I think the palate is not as complex as the nose although the flavours are very distinct and well formed, not to mention well balanced. The best thing though is that there is no shortage of distillery character here and it’s a great example of the natural beauty of this great distillery.

Finish: Long, lemony, salty, briny and all kinds of coastal, with a mouthwatering dry edge to it.

Comments: Just another top notch and very classy 1990’s Bowmore. One of the most distinctive makes around these days I think.

Score: 89/100

I stole this from Dewar Rattray's website, I'm sure they won't mind. Interestingly, they are the only IB to offer a comprehensive and detailed online list of their past bottlings, why the hell can't all independents do this?! It would make life so much easier. Hats off to DR for that.

Bowmore 1990/2010 20yo. Dewar Rattray. Cask 272. 204 bottles. Fresh Bourbon. 50.2%. 70cl.

Colour: Chardonnay

Nose: Pin sharp saline coastal notes at first on top of fresh butter, cocoanut and parsley. It’s almost a bit Laphroaigesque but for a tiny hint of (surprise) lavender, but the cask does the loudest talking with notes of pine sawdust and vanilla. A very creamy, quite modern and well composed Bowmore this one, I think the work is ‘textbook’. With a little time it develops some nice notes of fresh lime juice, salt and germoline. With water: Wow, it got much much fruitier, tinned pineapple, a little passion fruit, some banana, it’s very suggestive of old style pre 1976 Bowmore. Some more drying coastal notes like wet pebbles, seashore, seaweed and fresh oysters. Now it starts to become more herbal and medicinal with notes of yellow Chartreuse, Kummel, dried herbs and brine. Wonderful, complex whisky so far.

Palate: At full strength it is very consistent with the nose but there is also a marvelous chewy aged peat character and a whole load of grass, apricots, garden fruits, floral notes, cereals, plums, green tea and preserved lemons. An absolutely fantastic and flavour filled delivery, with a hint of 80s Bowmore floral character but it appears very restrained and balanced with all those other aspects. Juniper, juicy fruits, salt, green peat oils, jasmine tea, coriander, a real Gin like botanical character to this one. I almost hesitate to add water after that but … With water it doesn’t change too much but seems to stretch all those flavours out and soften them all, it feels like a more lazy version of the same whisky.  More notes of green tea, homemade lemonade, green pepper, some gentle floral notes, orange blossom, more salt, still very good but maybe a bit better without water on the palate.

Finish: Long, saline, classy and very elegant. It seems to go full circle on itself and become a bit more ‘modern’ again with the cask giving up more notes of vanilla and cream.

Comments: This is a very entertaining and drinkable whisky, it seems to be ever changing and delivers a multifaceted showcase of all the various historical styles of Bowmore from the past forty years or so. It really is a lot of fun. It’s also one of those curious whiskies that you’ll need to pour two glasses of, one to nose and one to drink, the nose is better diluted but the palate is better neat. Anyway, it’s another great 1990 Bowmore, well done to Dewar Rattray for bottling this one.

Score: 90/100

Next time we’ll delve deeper into the latter nineties…

It’s my birthday today, I’m 26 years old, I already have grey hair on my head. But if this year of travel has taught me anything so far it’s that I absolutely no reason or cause to complain about anything in this life. So with that in mind we’ll skip all the usual crap people write about the imaginary woes of aging and get down some proper gibberish. I don’t really like birthdays, not my own anyway, it’s not a strong dislike but more or a complete indifference. I can enjoy them very much when I am in good company and I’m not adverse to mild celebration. I’m not not fussed either way. Having said that I do believe that it is a good opportunity to spoil yourself with a fine dram (or twelve). It also seems appropriate that while on the road where great drams are few and far between, a birthday is as good an opportunity as any to break out something special if you have it. I have something that I’ve been sitting on for a few months now and I think it’s time to break it open. I was planning to save it and open it with certain notorious friends in Paris later this year but, to be honest… it’s getting pretty heavy…

Huacachina, Peru. That well known spot for locating ancient and rare bottles of whisky.

When I was still in Pisco earlier this year we took a weekend trip to a place called Huacachina, it’s a fascinatingly bizarre spot but not the sort of place you’d expect to find antique bottles of whisky. I was in the bar one afternoon and I spied the above bottle sitting atop an old beer fridge behind the bar in plain view. Needless to say I had trouble believing what I was seeing at first. On closer inspection the bottle appeared very genuine and very old, the Royal Warrant states to ‘his majesty the king’ which places it any time before 1952. Although the bottle shape, label and spring cap all look decidedly 30s/40s to me. The wee Peruvian man at the bar who sold it to me (for 200 soles which is roughly £55) said he obtained it from a ‘grateful traveling Englishman’ or so the translation went. He was insistent that it was from 1914, although, seeing as this bottles’ pride of place was on the beer fridge, he didn’t exactly scream ‘whisky expert’. So I don’t know too much about it other than that it is pretty old and, mercifully, very genuine. I did worry as the lead foil seal was not present but after popping the spring cap and having a sniff it was clearly the real thing. I’ve tried quite a few different versions of old White Horse through the years but not one from before the 1950′s I don’t think, so this should be interesting. These old White Horse blends are very heavily dominated by Lagavulin and Malt Mill, two very birthday friendly distillates (probably).

If anyone at Diageo would care to take a note of that serial number on the label and check to see when this was bottled I'd be very grateful.

White Horse. Spring Cap. Peruvian Import. Bottled 1930s/40s. Proof/contents not known.

Colour: Gold

Nose: Old reeky peat, metal polish, minerals and cow stables at first sniffing. There is an obvious old bottle effect here with all the metallic aspects but it is also surprisingly potent and fresh as well, that’s spring caps for you I suppose. Gets quite mentholated with notes toothpaste, mouthwash and also some quite medicinal touches like antiseptic and Birch Beer. Very reminiscent of the old Mackies Ancient Scotch actually. The peat is pretty hefty here, very simmering, earthy and tarry with some huge notes of engine oil and old boilers in the background. A very powerful whisky considering the years it’s spent in bottle. Some dusty notes of coal and old sheds now with sheeps wool, wet rocks and flints. It is mainly on industrial, medicinal and peat aromas but there are a few glimmers of fruit still in there which give a startling complexity to the whole thing. Goes on with some soft notes of dung and compost (in a nice way), becomes a little vegetal and develops some sweetish notes of fudge and caramel. Brilliant stuff.

Palate: A massive barrage of fat oily peat, mixed nuts, damp sackcloth, candle wax and salty mead (?). Huge presence on the palate, just brilliant. After so many years the peat is powerful but so velvety and soft, like a luxurious peat glue being squirted round your mouth. Very oily with quite a few sub flavours that live up to the complexity of the nose very nicely. I could drink a lagoonful of this nectar, in fact I’m having to top up my sample as I type (well… it is my birthday). Further notes of fresh bread, spices, cloves, orange bitters, dark chocolate and eucalyptus all bubble through in time. Not much point in continuing this as it is degenerating into MaltPorn.

Finish: Very long with more truckfuls of peat, medicinal oils, seaweed, wet earth, mulch and some little flecks of green fruits.

Comments: The Mackie’s Ancient Scotch was the company’s Malt Mill based blend at this time while the White Horse was generally more Lagavulin based (although it is very likely that there are a few casks of Malt Mill in this bottling). This is really reminiscent of the Mackies, that huge fat peaty quality is pretty unforgettable. It is also quite striking how those dry seaweed notes are so similar to the modern 16yo Lagavulin. All in all a fascinating piece of history and an excellent dram, there is just nothing like this kind of whisky made anywhere any more, the texture and flavours are just incredible and so distinctively old school. Highly recommended birthday material.

Score: 93/100 (same as the Mackies)

This just in: the latest announcement from the McGullible & Dreich press office.

Official Statement. Begins as follows…

It comes as great shock, awe, surprise, disappointment, frustration and arousal for us to have to issue these words. The proud independent bottling company McGullible & Dreich, a family owned company and subsidiary of Diageo (and formerly of ‘THE’ Glenwonka), a company which has proudly served the industry for literally months since 2010, is deeply saddened to have to accept responsibility for the allegations of blatant cask tapping that have arise in recent weeks.

This image of retained evidence released courtesy of Auchenbowie police bothie.

Due to ‘facts’ that were ‘uncovered’ and published by Whisky Magazine during the previous fortnight we have decided to appologise for the inexcusable, damaging and scurrilous actions of certain members of staff that, it must be stressed, are no longer employed by us. Indeed, several of them are now only involved with our company in a moderately lucrative consultancy capacity. Veronicka Marmite Dresden McGullible (pictured below), the company operations director during the ‘dark days’ of the cask tapping, is now no longer in this position, although she is beyond reproach and deservedly without criticism, as a result she has been promoted sideways to the mere position of ‘Führer of distillation & chairwoman of directors of the board of the company of the planet’.

Veronicka Marmite Dresden McGullible. Pictured here conducting a recent tasting.

The Events As They Happened…

Several weeks ago on the 2nd of June it is claimed that the first cask was tapped. We are suicidal to report that this was indeed undertaken by our own employees against our knowledge and behind our backs. The cask in question was a Brazilian rainforest hardwood puncheon of 1963 Port Ellen that was in the midst of receiving a state of the art Iraqi Hummus finishing. There followed in further weeks a series of cask tappings. These were perpetrated against casks of all types, in some cases the casks were long aged and in ill condition to resist such interferences. In other situations they were decidedly youthful and such irresponsible behaviors were undeniably damaging to their development. In many instances the casks in question had private owners, many of whom are understandably devastated at the loss of their contents and potential abv. It is true that in certain cases the deleted contents of some casks were replaced, or ‘topped up’, by the employees in question. We deeply regret these actions and wish to make it clear that we are, and always have been, staunch opponents of the solera system.

It is also true that one of the casks to receive such treatment was the Queen’s official cask of 3yo Auchenbowie. Rumors circulating on the Malt Geriatrics facetube forum that this cask was actually completely emptied and replaced with the contents of a neighboring cask are sadly true (in this case the cask was refilled with a deeply inferior 1972 Brora). We understand the Queen’s devastation at the loss of her favourite whisky…

"One is royally pissed off!" The Queen was interviewed by Angus W Apfelstrudel for Whisky Magazine due to the serious nature of these offenses.

We wish to make it clear that we are doing everything possible to rectify this situation. We are co-operating fully with the Auchenbowie Police Caskforce on this matter and have surrendered all seven emails that were sent internally during the last decade. We have also made sure that all junior employees have been removed from their positions and that they have been made sufficiently guilty to perform adequate levels of self harming. We have also ensured that our main filling store, where many of these unfortunate ‘tappings’ took place, has been permanently closed. All these employees will, through our generosity and humanity, be invited to apply for other jobs within this company, in fact we see this as a great opportunity for them and their families.

We are proud to announce that our second filling store will now be promoted to full capacity in the face of the loss of the main one. This will entail special extended fillings on sundays and bank holidays.

Whisky mogul Angus W Apfelstrudel has this to say on the matter:

“This is indeed a tragic day, not only for the whisky world, but also for the world of freedom and middle class based drinks enthusiasm at large. I myself have suffered during this crisis, my own personal cask of Loch Lomond 1999 was, I am devastated to say, tapped. Now this prestigious and seductive distillate has been been subjected to the perils of an imbalanced and sudden oxidization process, surely the worst fear of all whisky lovers everywhere. As a result of this crisis I had the fortuitous and great honor to interview the queen. I think she said it best when she said: “Angus baby, those divshits aren’t worthy to align my morning cornflakes let alone tap my cask.” Naturally I could tell she was quite taken with me (and yes by the way, I totally did, Phil was out of town and I’m a man of opportunity) and as a result the conversation dragged on for several hours. In fact, if I were you humble spectator, I wouldn’t be surprised to see on the cover of the next Whisky Tora the words ‘written by SIR Angus W Apfelstrudel’ oh yes! So don’t worry about this cask tapping shit, just buy my book. Buy it!”

Angus W Apfelstrudel, pictured here about to interview her majesty the queen.

For some balance we asked the French whisky aficionado and star of Whiskybling.com, Jasper Clementine, for a comment:

“I’m French, I don’t care about this shit! So long as they don’t tap my vineyards…!”

The final filling in our great and historic filling store took place today. All casks filled will be donated to various charities, blends and ebay.

…end of statement.