Bowmore Bowmore 18 Year Old NV 750ml

Complex and contemplative. The enticing scent mixes iodine, sea breeze and salted caramel, while the light, soft palate shows smoke, cocoa and dried fig notes, drying to clove and black pepper sparks. Water softens the overall impression to mocha and spice, with a mild blanket of campfire smoke on the exit.

This replaces the 17 year old in the standard Bowmore portfolio and the difference is significant. This one is more sherried than the 17 year old, and it wears the sherry well. I know that many of you, like myself, adore the 17 year old. Indeed, I feel that the 17 year old displays the true essence of Bowmore. But this 18 year old integrates the sherry notes with the Bowmore signature to create a richly flavored Islay whisky experience. Thick toffee, ripe fruit, and tar-tinged smoke are accentuated by dark chocolate, cocoa powder, burnt raisin, dates, and sea salt. Long, entertaining finish.

Bourbon barrels are the most common vessel for aging Scotch. It’s the cheapest and easiest barrel to come by: By lay,Bourbon must be aged in new charred American oak barrels, so as long as there’s a bourbon industry, there will be a virtually limitless supple of used, empty barrels. some distillers however, like to curb the sweet vanilla, smoke and caramel flavors imparted by the caramelized, Bourbon-infused staves by finishing the whiskey in Oloroso Sherry casks, which are made of European oak. The result is a little more refined, as the Bowmore 18-year-old demonstrates: Bourbon’s bacony smoke supports its islay peatiness, but it ends dry, with flavors of fresh-cut hay and peach.

Ever since I was introduced to Bowmore on my first trip to Islay in 1989, I have been an ardent admirer of its middle-road path. Never too peaty/smoky but just enough to give you a gentle slap in the face, Bowmore has artfully straddled the Islay fence while never losing its identity or virtue. It has always been the voice of moderation on an island that proudly espouses whisky personality extremes, from the bare knuckle, back alley approach of Ardbeg, :Aphroaig and Lagavulin to the more polished, less smoky likes of Bunnahabhain and mist Bruichladdichs. Bowmore, like Caol Ila and Port Ellen, has strived to be a baritone in an opera dominated by bass voices and tenors. This particular expression is Bowmore at its satiny finest.