Review by: The Muskox

The modern bottling of Bowmore 12, for me at least, leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. I’ve often wondered, what are the components of Bowmore like before it’s blended into oblivion to make the OBs? I won’t quite find out today, since this 13-year-old bottling was distilled over 30 years ago. 1991 is past Bowmore’s troublesome 80s period, but still when Jim MacEwan was in charge. I know Bowmore afficionado Paolo considers ’95-’05 vintages to be the best, so we’re a little bit early with this bottling. Let’s see how it compares.

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Distillery: Bowmore.

Bottler: Hart Brothers.

Region: Islay.

ABV: 46%.

Age: 13 years old. Distilled in March 1991. Bottled in September 2004.

Cask type: “Oak cask”.

Color: Pale gold. No colour added, un-chillfiltered.

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Nose: Sweet and citrusy, with a dirty peat edge. Soot, rubber, menthol, some turpentine, and salty sea grass. A bit of a Sharpie-ish harsh note at first, but it faded with time. Lemon drops, pear, and a little unripe pineapple. Peppery herbs. …Artichoke hearts!

Palate: Medium texture, slightly oily. Sweet lemon and grass up front, then dirty, sooty, vegetal peat. Rubber and tar, industrial funk, cigarette ash, and wet earth. Green pepper, maybe a fresh poblano. Almost reminiscent of a Del Maguey mezcal. Some juniper and pine, as well as menthol.

Finish: Medium, unexpectedly clean. Bowmore tar, some pepper. Strong tea. More lemon drops. A fragrant, sugar-cane kind of note. Dirty honey, dried oregano, spruce bark, rock dust, and sea salt.

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Possible SMWS bottling name: “Bog-soaked Welly tacos”

Notes: Clearly I’ve gotten used to older, mellower, fruitier Bowmore. This is like if you were to extract just the peat notes from other Bowmores, and then bottle that as a whisky. It really took me back to my time collecting spruce twigs in peat bogs this summer (don’t ask), and my fondness for the rubber boots that kept my feet dry and toasty. I found it very funny to get an unripe pineapple note on the nose, since I tend to get a strong ripe pineapple note from older Bowmores. There’s this interesting clean-dirty duality to it – super dirty peat, but then a lighter, sweeter finish. It almost tastes triple-distilled or something. It’s a tasty whisky, but very unapologetic and probably falling into the “more interesting than good” camp for me.

Final Score: 80.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.