Bowmore 26 Year Old - Single Cask (Master of Malt)

Master of Malt Bowmore 26 Tasting Note

Tasting notes from CaskStrength.net:

Nose: Huge fruit, sherbets, black and red fruit gums and a massive waft of Parma Violets. It's like that first heady aroma you get when walking into an old fashioned sweet shop and it's totally delicious! leaving this in the glass for a short time gives some splendid black cherries, a minute hint of smoke and some shaved dark chocolate.

Palate: The fruit sherbet and parma violets just get even more flavoursome on the palate. Tremendous oily mouthfeel, leading into some lovely light floral notes and a little woodiness emerge. Sweet and creamy Milky Bar flavours also start to make themselves known and you'd be forgiven for perhaps thinking this was a whisky designed for children!? (albeit children who know a great whisky when they taste it!!)

Finish: Lengthy, perfumed and full of sweetness. Just lovely.

Overall: Such a light, deft touch from a pretty seriously aged malt. where on earth did it come from?? It certainly is one of the most unusual whiskies we've come across in a while- and delivers on every front. Makes me start to think about swizzle sticks, drumstick lollies and other sugary treats of my yesteryear. Smiles all round....

Tasting notes from whiskynotes.be:

Nose: Hmmm… what’s this? It’s not soapy Bowmore, but it’s not like their regular stuff either. Very candied, with some marshmallow and cherry fruit gums. Hey, I like this, although it’s still faintly floral and I wouldn’t possibly recognize this as a Bowmore. Soft vanilla / white chocolate underneath. With a drop of water it becomes very lightly peaty and quite grassy.

Mouth: Very sweet attack. Violet candy appears, balancing on the edge between fruity notes and hints of lavender. But it never crosses the line. Citrus. Some peat in the background, with whiffs of cinnamon.

Finish: Still quite candied, with vanilla and just a hint of peat.

Overall: Ever wondered how a Bowmore lollipop would taste like? Once you get over the prejudices, this is very enjoyable. And I never thought I would write that about a 1982 Bowmore. In any case unique.

Tasting notes from Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2010:

Nose: 21.5/25 Uniquely Bowmore: a hickory-sweetened mixture of Fisherman’s Friends and kippers;

Taste: 21/25 weird: there is no other word for it. The cough sweet peat appears to be drowned in a tidal wave of sweet, nondescript fruit. For a moment there is silence on the palate… then spices break out…

Finish: 23.5/25 …and at last we have serious whisky. Beautiful texture to the oaky vanilla and phenols materialise in various degrees of intensity and sweetness and dryness: a fabulous fade…

Balance: 22/25 now that’s something completely different: the nose and early delivery has you checking the paper for the date: nope, it really isn’t April 1st. Where the hell is all that sweetness coming from…? Then it starts to settle towards something recognisable as very good whisky and from then onwards you are served up a minor treat.

Score: 88 ...more