Bowmore 13 Year Old 1995 Maltmen’s Selection

On 13 July 1995 five sherry butts (#1551-52-53 & 59-60) were filled with new make that, 13 years later, after a marriage, were filled into no less than 3.000 bottles of this Maltmen’s Selection in the Bowmore Craftsmen’s Collection. Each will set you back about 300 EUR. It has a very dark color.

This is what I call a deep, dry sherry nose with loads of chocolate, maple syrup, pipe tobacco, sigar box, ripe damson plums, a truckload of green garden herbs and broth extract. The smokiness is rather limited. Mildly maritime. With water, I get salty liquorice.

On the palate, it seems as if it is the other way around. Loads of peat, lot of brine, tar and smoldering hearth. Skewered suckle pig! Almost an ashtray (in the good sense). Wonderfully countered by all kinds of dark and dry fruits. Yes, it becomes sweeter all the time. Plums, again, but also dried slices of blood oranges and a handful of mint. Liquorice. Very smoky, now. With water I get more herbs. Delicious.

The finish lasts throughout your favorite television soap and ends in a beautiful salty tang, leaving the mouth completely dry.

Grand whisky. An absolute treat. Carries water with dignity. Like said around 300 EUR which is anything but cheap for a 13 Year Old. But what a whisky!

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