Bowmore 17 Year (SMWS 3.324 "Split Personality")

 

I've been waiting for this for some time - an older single cask Bowmore! I am one of those who hasn't terribly been impressed at all with the uber-funky 15 Year official bottling, and can't source any of the older bottlings that everyone else seems to rave about (generally the 18-to-27 year range) for a price below First Born Child. 

But finally I have my chance to have a full-strength bottle from the gentle, fragrant Islay distillery that is Bowmore. This single cask bottling is released via the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") under their Lightly Peated flavor category, nicknamed "Split Personality." But it's not without some peculiarities...

I'll start with the official tasting notes, which explain the casking: 

A deeply scented and aromatic nose full of exotic hardwood resins and spices. The inside of a freshly made acoustic guitar and then big dollops of mango jam, sandalwood, potpourri and cocktail bitters. Exotic fruit chutneys and a kiss of spicy peat smoke. Reduction brings marzipan, honey roast root vegetables, sweetened black tea and cough mixtures. Subtle notes of wintergreen and dried seaweed. The palate was immediately rich with bonfire embers and wood char. Cured game meats, BBQ smoke, bitter chocolate and black pepper. Water brought tarred ropes and enhanced the oily texture. Notes of hot smoked paprika, fig syrup, heather ales, toasted fennel and black olive tapenade. All washed down with a shot of long aged Absinthe. Previously in bourbon hogshead for 14 years before being transferred to a first fill STR barrique.

Well, the deeply scented nose checks out with other Bowmores I've had. Even the rather anemic 12 Year has a wonderful bouquet on the nose. I am quite curious about "the inside of a freshly made guitar" - fresh spruce?! There are a lot of interesting flavors here - who knows what the original 14 year version might have been like before the STR cask finish, which surely imparts so many of these woody notes: sandalwood, hardwood resin, spice, chutney, smoke, tea, wood char, et al. 

I am hoping for smoky game meats combined with the signature Bowmore honey notes, all wrapped up in an oily texted with lots of dry and spicy wood notes. And it seems I may get my wish! I'm also intrigued by fig syrup and long-aged Absinthe. Long-aged Absinthe!!

Bowmore is something of an odd duck on Islay. Neither a full-blast maritime monster like Ardbeg or Laphroaig, nor a fruit-forward balanced mouth of silk like Bunnahabhain, nor yet a peated farmy grassy malty offering like Kilchoman or Bruichladdich... No, Bowmore is perhaps half-allied to Lagavulin in its sort of vague nobility and big round smoothness. 

The big downside, that has been written about everywhere, is that Bowmore commits all the Big Corporate sins: everything is watered way way down, everything is chill filtered, everything is colored. It's the exact opposite of an "integrity bottling." 

Their 15 Year bottling was called "The Darkest" for years, to try and imply some kind of ultra-rich luxurious sherry finish... when, in reality, they had just colored the hell out of the liquid. People weren't fooled, and they were widely mocked for this; "The Darkest" no longer appears on the 15 Year's label. Wise choice. 

In my (now ancient) review of the 15 Year, I found such diverse flavors as "mushrooms sauteed in red wine" and "rum raisin ice cream" coexisting. Bowmore is no stranger to vivid flavors - they just don't package them to their own advantage. 

Meanwhile, their ubiquitous core 12 Year expression is a perennially decent deal in my area - $50-60 - even at its pathetically low strength of 40% ABV. Despite all the nice things it does, it simply tastes watery to me ... perhaps that's what happens when I have a year of single cask, natural strength bottles behind me. But it does have a lovely perfume to it, and the deeper you drink into the bottle, and the more oxidation occurs, some choppy maritime notes do emerge, and a bright, ashy peat smoke washes forth. Not to mention that rich honey note that drips from everything in sight!

But as far as their official bottlings go, it might be too little, too late for Bowmore: what would tempt me to buy it over, say, Bunnahabhain 12 Year, or Ardbeg 10 Year, or even Kilchoman Machir Bay or Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie?? It offers very little advantages, and several negatives. 

Therefore, I've had my eye out for an independent bottle of Bowmore for some time. Here in Washington DC I've never seen one in the wild. SMWS released one via lottery back in May for the Islay Festival, but I wasn't selected; then they issued this unusual shaved-toasted-recharred finish in the October outturn, and I jumped on it. I'm hoping for great things, that will totally change my mind about Bowmore. Bottled at a robust 56% ABV. Let's see how it fares:

Nose: Well, this takes time to unwind, but is outstandingly fragrant. Lavender, rose water, cedar wood, toasted oak. Sweet apple pie mixed with bright tropical fruit: pineapple and lychee. Burnt cinnamon! In fact, I would say "smoked spices" in general. Soft wood smoke. No peat at all on the nose, but a distinct and powerful sandalwood incense note. 

I added a few drops of water, but nothing really changed. I perhaps got a bit of dark chocolate wafting through the nose, but otherwise it was the same complex fruity toasted-oak nose. 

Mouthfeel: Medium and very oily. 

Palate: Wow, what the hell is going on in my mouth! All that fruit is immediately replaced by ash, ash, and more ash. Embers, cinders: all manner of ash. That shaved-toasted-rechar cask that provided the final three years of age must have been HEAVILY recharred. This is Ardbeg levels of ash. 

Mixed in thickly with all the ash and smoke is many layers of sticky honey. It's surprisingly sweet. There is, indeed, a meatiness here, but I interpret not as game meat but as mushrooms - much like the 15 Year official bottling. Dark baker's chocolate and espresso grounds. Some charred apple and charred pineapple. Lots of smoke here, I assume this must be the STR cask finish. 

With some water, the only one of the official notes that I get is the fig syrup which emerges almost as an afterglow - which is exactly the note I wanted! No olives or paprika, but I'm happy with that. 

Finish: Black pepper and burning firewood. Despite the very heavy smoke on the palate, and all the ash notes, the smoke is quite thin and wispy on the finish. A "toasted oak" flavor dominates along with the pepper. 

Verdict: I strongly suspect that Bowmore themselves simply don't offer anything official with this profile - the STR recasking has fundamentally altered the DNA of this whisky. There is a soft fragrant fruit paired with chocolate and coffee and mushrooms which is familiar to me, but there is a very pungent toasted wood note and accompanying funnel of smoke that is unlike anything I've experienced in Bowmore before. 

That said: I really like this. It reminds me, in the best of ways, of some heavily peated Glenturrets I've had recently. It's an outstanding example of a 17-year old whisky: mature, smooth even in its angularity, full of bright and dark flavors both, and lots of cask influence (almost too much, perhaps). If you like wood smoke and wood flavor, seek this out. If you like the official Bowmores, this might not be your jam. Use discretion on this one.