Bowmore 12 Year Old - 40% 70cl

The heart of the Bowmore range, complex yet perfectly balanced, the 12 year old reflects the raw essence of Bowmore exhibiting some beautiful coastal notes with a gentle peat with a great balance which is what makes this a great entry bottling for Bowmore.

Bowmore 12 Years Old has received much critical acclaim; the late, great whisky writer Michael Jackson proclaimed it "remarkably long and complex". With that said, we like to think of it more as vanilla ice cream at a beach bonfire.

Featured in the 1001 Whiskies you must try before you die book.

An ideal entry point into the fabulous world of Islay and Bowmore Whisky which has just the right amount of smoke and not as medicinal as the Kildalto trio of Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin.

Nose: Coastal smoke and ash soon make way for bergamot, beautiful citrus of orange zest, lemon slices and some hay before turning rather floral as the heather smoke now competes with the ash.

Palate: A real treat. Rounded and initially honeyed as that then makes way for vanilla, a perfumed smoke as coastal elements develop. Dark Peat, blossom and an oily sweetness.

Finish: Long and smoky. Coastal notes with a touch of ash and citrus.

light peats, the air of a room with a man sucking cough sweets; sweet pipe smoke' soft, beautiful delivery of multi-layered peats; lots of effervescent spices and molassed sugars; spices abound; much drier with sharper berries and barley; the peat still rumbles onwards, but has no problems with the light, sawdusty oaks; this new bottling still proudly carries the Fisherman's friend cough sweet character, but the coastal, saline properties here are notch and three up: far more representative of Islay and the old distillery style. Easily by far the truest Bowmore I have tasted in a long while with myriad complexity. Even going back more than a quarter of a century, the malt at this age rarely showed such relaxed elegance. Most enjoyable.

- Jim Murray
Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2016
The World's Leading Whisky Guide