Bowmore Vault Edition First Release Atlantic Sea Salt

smooth upfront , caramel flavors, bourbon barrel aroma, delicious yet harsher finish. Amazing.

So, Bowmore’s latest (but certainly not greatest) NAS Series is called the Vault Editions. There is supposed to be a series released annually (IIRC) and each one will be sort of sub-titled by the flavor profile they are aiming for with each batch. This is the First Edition and it is called Atlantic Sea Salt. Bowmore is focusing the initial release based on their infamous Vault No. 1, which is technically below sea level and imparts most of the salty and briny notes to most of their releases. The color here is dull gold and it doesn’t have much leg action, and due to the higher ABV of 51.5% it doesn’t leave many water droplets around the rim when you spin it. I don’t believe this is a true cask strength bottling, but it is much higher than any standard release. The nose delivers on all cylinders with the salty aspects: brine and salted fish dominate from the opening and they don’t fade at all, even after 15-20 minutes. There’s pine and sawdust swirling around along with some odd lemon, cleaning solution that sting the nose a bit. The typical Bowmore smoke is drowned out to the point it reminds me just of lightly charred oak. Happily, the sulphuric notes I detect in a lot of Bowmore is well hidden. The salt on the palate doesn’t hide the smoke here, thankfully and some earthy peat notes drift through while leaving that lemon Pledge flavor and faint sulphuric to fight over which may offend you a little more. The ABV kicks in mid sip and forces most of the offensive notes away. The finish is medium in length, but boy is it hot. Some harsh oak tannins and lemon zest really add zip here, but they really kill the mouthfeel a lot. The young juice doesn’t help matters at all. Hot and dry is the theme here. Overall, there are parts I like: grilled lemon fish on the nose and palate, but there are parts I hate: the finish is abrasive as hell and it lets a bit of the sulphuric notes back into play. Those notes are the sole thing that ruin a lot of Bowmore’s core range for me. I particularly love the higher ABV bottles and the extremely well-aged stuff from these guys, but the high ABV here can’t overcome the saltiness or the sulphur and for that I gotta ding it on the score. This bottle also ran about $88, which is still way too much for what you get. I hope the next Vault Edition is better than this one. 2.5-2.75 stars. Cheers.

Nose: toasted barley and hay, like flowers after a rain pour. Palate: salty and very floral. Great finish and the most botanical Islay whisky I've ever had. Delicious.