White Bowmore 1964, 43 years, b.2008, 532/732, 42.8% abv.

The White Bowmore derives it's name from the lighter color that bourbon cask matured whiskies tend to have. This bottling was actually released as the middle of a trio, with the first of the trio being the third edition, or "final" Black Bowmore in 2007 and the last being the Gold Bowmore in 2009. All 7 of those special Bowmores (5 black, 1 white, 1 gold) are from 1964. That's because in 1963, Bowmore went bankrupt, primarily due to market conditions, and Stanley P. Morrison Ltd. bought them out. 1964 was their first distillation, which laid the foundation to these legendary editions/casks.

Nose: major wood, matsutake mushrooms, white grapes, some fresh raisins, jujubees, a bunch of select tropical fruits such as peaches, guavas, some tangerines, mangoes, lightly steamed lotus leaves.

Palate: strong, clean and pure flavors, oak, slight peaches, mangoes, mango skin, syrup, pure lotus leaves, its hard to describe, like the flavor intensity profile of 5 Glendronachs or 4 Macallans or 3 A'bunadhs or 3 Kavalan Solists concentrated into 1 shot. Not too fruity though, not as tropical as the nose but more along the skins/peels of zelect tropical fruits, not too much wood but do I taste pine?, more on that wood chemical side. No smoke, no peat. Its really hard to describe. Wish I had more tasting experience under the belt.

Finish: moderate to short, dry, wood spice, cool, slight menthol, but almost non-existent.

Dry glass: slight fruity wax, powdered fruit peels, waxy.

Seriously, I have yet to taste something even similar in flavor intensity or flavor focus. I have no idea how the Scotch is able to maintain such amazing flavor but virtually disappear on the finish. It's like eating a bunch of old tofu in one bite. Very unlike typical modern Bowmore. One of those super scotches.

Grade: A

Whiskyfun.com, Serge Valentin, sgp:644, 95 points
Malt maniacs, Robert Karlsson, 94 points
Malt maniacs, Pit Krause, 93 points
Malt maniacs (ret.), Bert Bruyneel, 94 points
Whisky advocate, John Hansell, 94 points

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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