Bowmore 12 Year Old 2000 The Whisky Mercenary

I have met Jürgen Vromans a couple of time, always a helping hand at whisky festivals. Perhaps that is where he discovered his love for independent bottlers? So he started doing it himself. He just released his fourth whisky (which I will try later this week) so I thought I would give them all a go. They are bottled under the Whisky Mercenary label. Let us start with a young Bowmore at drinking strength.

The nose is typical of young Bowmore: all kinds of sea associations (salt, oysters, seaweeds) and nice peat, hand in hand with apples, banana, lemon and even mango and pineapple in this case. Some wet stones and a hint of salted farmer butter. Becomes sweeter as it breaths with marzipan and vanilla. Sugar candy even. Nicely creamy.

Nice continuation on the palate. The peat is more prominent and the whisky becomes bellicose. Again apples, pink ladies, that join the mildly exotic fruit. Liquorice in full force. Ginger confit, light peppers and loads of brine.

The medium long finish emphasizes the salt and smoke, while the sweet fruit is never far off.

This is a dangerously quaffable Bowmore for around 60 EUR. Very limited release. Thanks, Jürgen, for sharing.

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