Review by: The Muskox

I love Bowmore but hate their official bottlings. I don’t know quite what they’re doing over there, but whoever puts their whisky together must have a very different palate from me. When their distillate isn’t messed with, and is just bottled as a single cask, it’s some of my favourite whisky in the world. Here’s an OB Bowmore that I have hopes will finally be good.

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Distillery: Bowmore.

Bottler: Official bottling.

Region: Islay.

ABV: 52.5%. Cask strength.

Age: 15 years. Bottled in 2018.

Cask type: First-fill Oloroso sherry casks.

Price: N/A, sample.

Color: 1.5, Auburn. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

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Nose: Earthy and fragrant. Smoldering cedar wood. Salty and tangy fruit – tamarind, dried mango, dried chilis. Oh, there it is: a phenomenal muscatel-ish black tea note, maybe slightly overbrewed. Black licorice and chicken broth. Tide pools and antiseptic. Sweetness builds as it rests in the glass.

Palate: Medium texture. Arrives very salty with dashi and seaweed. Fragrant development with lush soft smoke, dried fruits, banana, and creamy milk chocolate. There are some violets. Earthy, birch bark.

Finish: Medium. Salty and sweet. More tamarind. Fragrant campfire. Violets. Olive oil. Dried fruit leather and banana.

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Conclusion: It’s good! By OB Bowmore standards, it’s phenomenal. Super characterful, relatively mild cask influence (which is a plus for me), excellent flavours, and good complexity. It still has a bit of this… I almost want to say harshness, but that’s not quite the right word… it’s inelegant. The flavours that make Bowmore great are all here, they’re just bunched up together and unbalanced in a slightly wrong way.

This is completely nitpicky, I realize. I just really know what I want from the distillery. These are things that hold it back from being an outstanding Bowmore. It’s just a very good Bowmore.

Final Score: 86.

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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.