Bowmore 18-Year Deep & Complex
43% ABV - Islay, Scotland
Nose: Dark red fruits, nectarine, raisin, and sherry spices. There is a hint of chocolate and caramelized fruit sugars.
Taste: Cherries, an orchard fruit compote, and spices. Interestingly, I’d classify this as “more peat than smoke” if that makes sense – maybe more from the earthy side than the smoky side. Blood orange citrus (red oranges) really shines on the development.
Finish: Dried and baked red fruits, spices, ginger, and gentle cusps of smoke.
This expression has a very, very tasty development into the finish. The nose benefits from water and time, but the rest you can dive right into. I find this to be easy drinking, but I would probably not choose this to introduce someone to whisky with – or Bowmore in general, for that matter. It’s quite a bit different than the 15-Year Darkest, which is the closest (available) expression we have to compare with – and a bit more of an accessible malt. The wood notes and spices are much more pronounced in this bottling, and the ex-Sherry character is more intense. It’s guesswork for the exact recipe, but I’d imagine it has spent the majority, if not all, of its time inside ex-Sherry casks. And probably fairly active casks, unless it is just a second maturation or finishing. ...It really would be great if distilleries were more transparent about this!
Is it “Deep” as per the label? I imagine that is a reference to the colour – so the answer is yes, definitely. The spirit is likely only this deep of colour by addition of the E150 colouring agent. And this caramel colouring is not always a bad thing… if there is any solace, we are made to believe that the amount added cannot make the whisky more dark than as it was drawn straight from the cask. The colour adds to the experience, and, call it false advertising if you will, there still is a certain pleasure to it.
Is it “Complex” as per the label? I might not have used that descriptor myself, but, again, yes it does have a good level of complexity to it. I like to call a whisky “complex” when I am able to pull out specific flavours. For example, instead of only saying “red fruits” there might be nectarine, or plum, or cherry that stands out individually. So the name is a bit silly, like the rest of the Bowmore 2017 Travel Retail Exclusive (TRE) range, but still better than any No Age Statement as it saves them from cooking up a marketing story to explain it!
It would be amazing to side-by-side this with the standard core range 18-Year and any other equivalent age – such as the 18-Year Manzanilla Cask from the Vintner’s Trilogy! I think the peat levels amongst those Bowmores are all varying intensities and that would make for a great experience. (And completely unrelated to the quality or presentation of this spirit, but this bottle I have has a satisfyingly tight fitting cork – that squeaking during the twist off is sublime!)
Note: This whisky was tasted alongside the other 2017 Bowmore TREs: 10-Year Dark & Intense and 15-Year Golden & Elegant.
Tasting Notes (Official): Breathe In: Rich dark chocolate, treacle toffee and date oil. Sip: Bitter-sweet orange peel and peat-smoke roasted coffee. Savour: Velvet mocha and macadamia nut chocolate.
Tasted 22 May 2019. (Posted 27 May 2019.)
