Monday, 26 May 2014

Bowmore - 12 year old - Old Particular - Douglas Laing - Review

Here we are again to follow on from my recent update, where I introduced the "Big Peat" tweet tasting, to take you onto the 3rd of the 5 drams sampled.

For the third dram of the evening we headed north from the south coast to the oldest distillery on the island, Bowmore.

This dram is 12 years old and comes from Douglas Laing's "Old Particular" range.  Bottled at 48.4% ABV, this bottling is from 1 refill hogshead which was filled in 2001 and bottled in 2014.

Onto the notes:

Nose - Mashed banana, fresh, gentle smoke. Smokey bacon which becomes more earthy with smoke becoming mineral peat. Distinct hints of toasted oats and milk chocolate. Very appetising.

Palate - Initial blast of good quality peat. Very contrasting sweet and sour notes flash around the mouth. Milk chocolate raisins, sweet malt and sour lemon sweets.

Finish - Long and juicy yet slightly drying.  Flavours go on and on making this very moreish. The peat remains to the very end.

Overall this is a fantastic malt. Great depth and complexity surround it. The constant peat is welcome as sometimes, in my opinion, Islay whiskies can die away at the very end. The sweet and sour contrast is extremely engaging with perfect levels of both which are highlighted by the great flavours that accompany them. Top notch stuff and highly recommended.

As with all of these updates relevant links can be found below and I'll be back tomorrow with the 4th dram sampled.

Until next time,

Slainte.

SI


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