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Bowmore 23 Year Port Cask Matured 1989

Single Malt

Bowmore // Islay, Scotland

RARE
  • Details
  • 25 Reviews

community rating

4.18
4.18 out of 5 stars
( Total review count: 25 )

This 1989 vintage was aged entirely in port casks and bottled in 2013. One of the pillars of Islay's whisky community--and history--the old-world Bowmore distillery, one of the few in Scotland to still do floor-maltings, sits in the center of the island's main village, on a hill overlooking the water.

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If "Islay" could be an adjective, this is as Islay as it gets. .

This 1989 vintage was aged entirely in port casks and bottled in 2013. One of the pillars of Islay's whisky community--and history--the old-world Bowmore distillery, one of the few in Scotland to still do floor-maltings, sits in the center of the island's main village, on a hill overlooking the water. If "Islay" could be an adjective, this is as Islay as it gets.

    • age
      23 Year
    • Cost
    • abv
      50.8
  • Single Malt
    Distilled in pot stills from 100% malted barley, produced at one distillery, aged in barrels; if Scotch or Irish, must be aged for at least three years.
  • Cask Type
    ex-port

Tasting Notes

"It's only fitting that a distillery as old and dignified as Bowmore (est. 1779) should release a malt as grand and regal as a 23 year old. The smokiness of Bowmore whisky--across the board--has a distinct saline character about it--more so than any other of the Islay malts. That oceanic note pokes through the dark cherry, walnut, and warm--and warming--spice cake aromas that are thick enough to touch. When you take a sip, the saline note becomes almost an afterthought; it is all cherries and spiced black plums and salty black licorice and, of course, plenty of oak. But the smoke emerges as the winner on the finish, a concentrated coda in which bitter orange peel and tangy berries cling to those very Islay notes as they fade from smoke to ash. "
Added by Liza Weisstuch
Score 92
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Flavor Profile

Briny & Full Bodied

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