Bowmore 12 Year Old 2002 Malts of Scotland '46'

Malts of Scotland introduces a new series named ‘46’, undoubtedly referring to the alcohol percentage. The first release in this new series is a 12 Year Old Bowmore from 2002. After checking my notes, this is the 70th Bowmore that I have tried. A bit of a milestone, eh?

The nose is fresh and lively and reminds me immediately of a freshly baked white bread. Loads of malt and grasses. The peat is quite discrete and translates into just a smidge of salmiak. After a few seconds, goat cheese comes to mind. It is not at all maritime, which comes a bit as a surprise. The fruit balances between apple and banana, but I cannot really call this one fruity. Some farmer’s butter and some yoghurt arrive quite late. Well, this is a rather strange nose, if you ask me, but far from bad.

On the palate it is pretty oily and very sweet, the fruit evolving towards citrus. Banana remains, though. The peat is much louder now and turns this into a nice, but somewhat restless Bowmore. Some seaweeds and loads of tarmac. Yes, that is more like it. Spicy, too. Ginger, white pepper and some liquorice.

The finish is between medium and long, between sweet and salt with a lingering smokiness.

After the somewhat atypical nose, bit opened up beautifully in the mout hand shows that it is indeed a top Bowmore. Around 50 EUR.

Find where to buy Bowmore whisky