Bowmore 10 Year Old 2000 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask

Douglas Laing, well-known independent bottler, released this young Bowmore from 2000 for the famous La Maison du Whisky in Paris. Strange to bottle something so young under the Old Malt Cask label. Oh, well. It is a sherry butt that yielded 516 bottles.

The nose shows a basket full of ripe mandarin and gooseberries. Surprisingly fresh. Then out come some typical sherry notes such as raisins and faux leather. The maritime notes come out as a second layer, but soon take over the nose. Seaweeds, peat, oysters covered in a drop of candied syrup. Not bad. Adding water, however, makes it a tad dirty. Olives and ansjovis clash a bit with the sherry.

The palate is creamy with loads of maritime elements, that still subdue the sherry. Dried oranges, leather, even some dried bacon gets the chance to show itself. Well seasoned. Adding water makes it slightly bitter and emphasizes the spices. I do not think that an improvement.

The finish is long and drying with the spices at the fore.

I had heard a few negative comments about this bottling, but I thought it was more than fair as long as you do not add water. Having said that, it is still a far cry from some other young bowmore on sherry that I have tried. Around 80 EUR is a bit expensive in my book.

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