At this point, we’re fairly familiar with Bowmore. However we’ve sort of been going about it in reverse having started with the 17 year, and then near 6 years later (yikes), we did the 15 year. We’ve opted this time to go with the 12 year. We can therefore finally form a verdict on which Bowmore you should buy, and what (if anything) does time do?
Fuck you Bowmore. Don’t get us wrong we love you. But look at what you made us do below. You had shit written on the fucken flap of the box. Cut the shit, let the whiskey speak.
What they Say: “Box Front: Puffs of PEAT smoke and pools of HONEY. Sharpened by LEMON zest. The First Islay Malt.
Box Side 1: The First Islay Malt
Bowmore celebrated Single Malt has been distilled on the magic island of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland, ever since 1779. This makes it the first of Islay’s eight distilleries by chronology certainly(and by taste too, many would say).
Produced the same way today as it has always been, even down to the use of floor malted barley. Bowmore Single Malt is widely acknowledged to be among the finest and most perfectly balanced in the world.
Box Side 2: Bowmore 12 Years Old
Complex yet perfectly balanced, our 12 Years Old reflects the raw essence of Bowmore – thrashing waves, windswept landscapes and generations of tradition.
On the eye warm amber Breathe in subtle lemon and honey, balanced beautifully by Bowmore’s trademark peaty smokiness. Sip sweet and delicious heather honey and gentle peat smoke. Savor the long, mellow finish.
To fully enjoy the aroma, savor it in the open air. See how a drop of water releases those refreshing citrus notes. Magical!
Box Side 3: Born and bred on Islay
Islay malts are famed for their peaty smokiness and Bowmore 12 Years Old is no exception. As well as taking our water from the peat-laden Laggan River, we carefully smoke our malt in a pear-fired kiln, just as our ancestors did over 200 years ago.
Nurtured for 12 years in Bowmore’s legendary No. 1 Vaults, the oldest maturation warehouse in Scotland and the only one below sea level, the result is classic Bowmore.
Box Top Flap: Failte
(Scots Gaelic for ‘Welcome’ pronounced ‘foyle’ta’) Thank you for choosing Bowmore
Bottle: Has text from box starting with On the Eye.”
Taste: 6.0 – It’s certainly sweeter than a typical peaty Islay. Sure the smoke is there, but if you think of a typical in your face punch – this is a bit different. Like a chop to the neck instead.
Aftertaste: 8.0 – If you couldn’t smell the honey be prepared to taste it. That along with some other spices make this akin to a rusty nail. However, despite how odd that seems – the long (so long) lingering aftertaste of sweet and smoke is amazing.
Burn/Smooth: 6.0 – It doesn’t go down terribly smooth. However much like that long lingering aftertaste, the warmth you get goes on for a while.
Aroma: 7.5 – You can smell (or at least convince yourself) there’s honey in there, but that’s mostly because the peat and smoke has a touch of sweetness. Overall it’s not incredibly complex and burns the hairs of your nostrils just a tiny bit, but then is an Islay scotch. You crack this open just to let the smell waft through your room.
Honesty: 6.0 – So they don’t lie. It is a scotch and most boxes from there are as verbose. This is the first time we had to write about text on a flap though so we can’t deny that this isn’t wanky. Overall most of its history, the design is good, and they mention honey which actually is present – so overall there’s a lot of confliction here.
Mixability: 6.0
W/ Rocks: 6.0 – It does smooth everything out a bit, and you do still get that long lingering aftertaste. Overall though it’s lost too much power. It is still a damn good single malt w/ ice.
Value: 7.0 – We took a look at our own 12 years, and the average cost is 48. The only comparable thing here is to Auchentoshan 12 in terms of quality versus price so we gotta hand it to Bowmore. We’d go higher, but as the image above betrays we paid a bit more *grumbles*
Google Shop Average: $45
Website: https://www.bowmore.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 7.0
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Metric Score: 46.5/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.64 |+| Reviewer Average: 7.0
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Final Thoughts: Again this is slightly cheap, it’s got some nice honey elements, but go with the 15 year. Sorry, but the 17 year is lackluster, and the raw power from the 15 is much more palatable. That being said it’s very hard for us to ask you to spend a full 32 dollars more – so maybe just buy two of these on sale?
