Bowmore 10 Years Old Tempest Small Batch Release No.1 (2009) 70cl
The Bowmore we all know and love albeit at higher cask strengths and not the 40-45% we are used to. This is an experience!
Bowmore 10 Years Old Tempest Batch 1 is the first release in the series. It matured for 10 years in first-fill bourbon barrels, before being bottled in 2009 at a cask strength of 55.3%. The whisky is sweet and spicy, with notes of vanilla, citrus and orange, followed by peat smoke and a hint of sea salt. The finish is long, lingering and fresh.
The sweet-tinged, oaky nose gives no indication of the fantastic maelstrom of smoke and spice that follows on the palate. This may be the best 'standard' distillery-bottled Bowmore of the 21st century.
Tasting Notes
Nose : Very appetising whiffs of smoke and sweetness: iodine, coal and wet bonfire balanced with forward notes of barley sugar, honey and a hint of marmalade and cream toffee. Pleasantly oaky. Develops on summer fruit squash and faint hints of the exotic fruits that much older Bowmores are famed for. Also a pleasantly musty spice.
Palate : Big bonfire notes, quite fiery. BIG spicy black pepper and chilli notes, wrapped in thick wood and coal smoke. Much more savoury and powerful than suggested by the nose.
Finish : The dusty oak notes from the nose emerge as the conflagration of coal and smoky spices fades. Finally some sweetness very late on.
About Bowmore
Bowmore is located in the centre of Islay and occupies a central role in the island’s whiskies. The distillery has retained its own floor maltings which account for 40% of its needs and when mixed with malt from the mainland results in a medium peated spirit.
Its smoke, reminiscent of beach bonfires, mingles with a distinctly saline note, flowers, cereal, citrus and underneath a touch of tropical fruit. It is this character which, when matured in refill casks for a long period of time, becomes the primary aroma, the peat seemingly disappearing completely.
A significant percentage of the make is aged in ex-Sherry butts which take Bowmore off in another direction – one of dark fruits, chocolate, coffee, citrus and smoke. The extensive range picks and chooses between these extremes. A significant percentage of the distillery’s whisky is matured on the island, with the distillery’s No.1 Vaults being held to have the most extraordinary microclimate. This chill, damp environment – the vault is below the level of Loch Indaal and one wall makes up the town’s sea wall – is seen as ideal for long-term maturation.
There are claims that Bowmore’s distillery started operation in 1779, but there’s no evidence of whisky being made until a certain John Simpson took out a licence in 1816. It wouldn’t be until 1837 when the Glasgow blending firm, Wm & Jas. Mutter took over that it began to gain traction and reputation. In 1841, Windsor Castle requested a cask of Bowmore – this being a time when the English palate was considered too delicate (or Scotch too bold). As often happens, the distillery passed through a number of hands before in this case it was bought, in 1963, by broker Stanley P. Morrison. The Morrison era saw the start of what is recognised as a legendary period in Bowmore’s history – its mid-1960s bottlings are legendary.
The distillery was substantially modernised with an innovative heat recovery system not only cutting down on fuel bills but creating sufficient excess hot water to heat the town’s swimming pool. In 1989 the Japanese distiller Suntory bought a stake in the distillery and took full control in 1994, the year after the ground-breaking Black Bowmore was launched. This 100% Sherry-aged release was sold for what at the time was seen as the ludicrously inflated price of £100.
In 2014 Suntory bought Jim Beam which, from an Islay perspective, sees two of Islay’s most iconic single malts (Bowmore and Laphroaig) under the same ownership.
*Minor marks on tin
55.3% ABV
70cl
