Black Bowmore Tasting Notes
Tuesday, February 05 2008
I am not that fortunate to buy myself a bottle of Black Bowmore, since the retail price will be somewhere around ?2000, although I might become the lucky winner of the prize draw Bowmore holds through their website. If you however do have that amount of money to spend on a bottle of whisky you can buy yourself a very exclusive 42yr old Islay whisky from which only 827 bottles are available for sale. I have never tasted a whisky that old, and probably never will, but some people are lucky enough to give it a try.
Each of the 827 bottles have come from a single cask filled on the 5th of November 1964 and are individually hand numbered and come with a wooden presentation case. Being filled in 1964 means that this Black Bowmore aged for 42 years in Bowmore's warehouses. John Hansell of Malt Advocate Magazine was one of a few lucky people so far, and the first in the US, who did have the opportunity to taste this latest bottling by Bowmore. John published his tasting notes today on his blog called "What does John know". Below a quote from John's post:
In short, this is one of the most fascinating whiskies I have ever tasted! What I think impresses me most is how the whisky evolves. On the nose and palate, this is a thick, viscous, whisky, with notes of sticky toffee, earthy oak, fig cake, fallen fruit, pancake batter, black cherry, ripe peach, dark chocolate covered espresso bean, polished leather, a hint of wild game and lingering, leafy damp kiln smoke. Flavors continue on the palate long after swallowing. This is what we all hope for (and dream of) in an older whisky!
I have now tasted this whisky twice: last night before dinner with Iain McCallum, Bowmore?s whisky ?nose?, and this morning, in my hotel room before posting this. My opinion is the same. My rating for this whisky, which will be published in the next issue of Malt Advocate magazine, is: 97. (That?s the highest rating I have ever given a whisky.)
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