We’ve discovered a series of outstanding Bowmore expressions lately. There was the affordable Aston Martin 10 Years, as well as the excellent Aston Martin 22 Years and two indie Bowmore 1997 bottlings.
Now we get to try the Bowmore 2001 recently bottled by Douglas Laing in their Xtra Old Particular range. It is exclusive to The Whisky Exchange and comes from a refill sherry butt, resulting in a dark colour.
Bowmore 21 yo 2001 (51,6%, Douglas Laing XOP for The Whisky Exchange 2022, refill sherry butt, DL16464, 514btl.)
Nose: nice cigar boxes and ashes, as well as tarry boat ropes up front. Hints of horse saddles and hessian, leading up to engine oils and chlorophyll. Typical umami Bowmoreness. Then beautiful tropical fruits start to appear, like mango, pink grapefruit and blood orange. Quite juicy and fragrant as it opens up. A slightly heady top note of iodine as well. Another excellent nose indeed.
Mouth: basically the same development. It starts on stewed forest fruits and blackberry jam, with salty notes and crushed black peppercorns. Then light meaty notes, as well as kippers, dark chocolate and some tarry notes again. Liquorice, rosemary and smoked fig too. Coal dust and leather grow stronger. Mid-palate there’s still a flash of Bowmore’s glorious tropical fruits although it has to fight the sherry for attention.
Finish: very long, on salty notes, earthy smoke as well as lingering fruits.
Another fine example of how brilliantly Bowmore shines in a good sherry cask. It is hard to beat this combination of ‘evolved peat’, tropical fruits and jammy sherry. High class whisky, I couldn’t resist getting a bottle myself. Exclusively available from The Whisky Exchange.