Dear Bowmore, you were one of our first loves when it comes down to whiskies from Islay. Your fruity body and gentle peat smoke was just perfect. We never really split up and you’ve never disappointed us, but your heavier brothers and sisters tried to seduce us, over and over. And with great success. But dear Bowmore, visiting your place of birth reminded us of why we fell in love with you in the first place.

The entrance, the malting floors, the ‘just-enough-peat-in-there-kiln’, the feminine shaped stills, the great view over the ocean and the village of Bowmore itself. What’s not to love? Visiting Bowmore was like visiting another planet in the Star Wars universe. While Laphroaig was very down to earth and simple like Tatooine, Bowmore was like visiting the casino planet from the Last Jedi (well, except the cocky and rich inhabitants and all the money that was flowing). If you’ve ever been there, you’ll know what we mean. It just looks pretty. The people were also very nice, because without even having to ask, they let us sit down and pour two great drams: Bowmore 12yo and the Warehousemen’s Selection (Distillery Exclusive), because we had to wait a while for the tour.

Looking over the sea, in this great atmosphere, with your notebook and your drams, lets you be part of the whisky. We had our fair share of Bowmore twelves, but we’ve never enjoyed it to the fullest, but we did that day. And the distillery exclusive… yeah baby! We’ll write another post about the tour, let’s just dive right into the tasting notes:

We scored it a solid 92 and we even haven’t told you what kind of maturations went into this. Can you guess it?