Bowmore Malts anyone?

by **Anis** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 7:22 pm

Bowmore malts
I am enjoyng the recent offerings by Bowmore. I paticulary like the Bowmore Dusk. It leaves a nice lingering efect on the tongue.

by **SasquatchMan** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 8:56 pm

Bowmore makes good stuff. Very reasonably priced around here, too.

by **Admiral** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 10:38 pm

The Bowmore 12 & 17 go down nicely anyday! They're great drams. I also tried the Dawn a few weeks ago, and I thought it was deliciously juicy & spicy on the palate. A bottling from the SMWS last year also showed how brilliant Bowmore can be at cask strength and with no chill-filtration or caramel added.

(Bowmore is unfortunately on the list of distilleries that are known to add caramel - as identified by those clever European countries where it is necessary for the label to display all artificial additives).

Cheers,
Admiral

by **Tom** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 11:16 pm

Allright! i just finished my ultimate Bowmore tasting. i been busy on the brand for over one year now, testing and experimenting.i dont think i spent more time on any malt then on this one because, well lets admit it, there's nothing quite like bowmore. i needed alot of time to decide if i liked it or hated it. anyway, i tasted most of the the OB's now and tonight i tasted the legends, 12, 17 and darkest next to eachother. in the last weeks i tried about everything else of bowmore (OB). so i tasted the range more then enough to have a clear view on it (every bottling at least 3 times) i did not however taste the Dawn, 21 and 25. i order of liking i came to this conclusion:
-Blackadder Raw Cask Bowmore 1991 87% Excellent!
-Voyage 84% this is very special, unique even.
-12Y 83%
-Cask strength 82%
-Darkest 82% excellent sherry influence, but too bad the leafy tones and caramel kicks in.
-Legends 81%
-Dusk 80%
-17Y 78% im sorry, i know most love this one, but i dont like the leafy and perfumy notes.
-Mariner(15Y) 77% Perfume is overwhelming.
i must say however that with a cigar the 17 beats everything. for the rest, what is it with some bottlings and the perfume/leafy tones? you dont have them in the IB's and those are great stuff. only in some OB's. am i wrong or is every 17Y full of it? the voyage is even extremely full of it, but the sweet port makes up for it. i was wondering what exactly makes those flavors. i know no other brand that has them and even bowmore dont "always" has them. does anybody know? it would help me alot because im still not sure what to think of bowmore in general, is this the house style, or just some bottlings?
any help would be apreciated.
Thenk you, Tom

by **Admiral** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:07 am

Tom,

The leafy/perfumy notes you describe have been identified in numerous Bowmore OB's. It has been discussed recently in threads here. The PLOWED guys over in the U.S call it "FWP" (French Whore's Perfume). What makes it frustrating is that it is an inconsistent & variable phenomenon. I haven't experienced it any bottlings here in Australia, but I know a few guys in the U.S have vowed never to buy a Bowmore again until there is a guarantee that FWP is gone.

I don't believe it is a "house style", although some bottlings had it consistently for a couple of years. If memory serves, some of the guys at PLOWED identified that FWP disappeared (and then occasionally re-appeared) when the bottlings changed between the paper labels and direct bottle printing.

The PLOWED guys took this very seriously, and wrote to the distillery to enquire. I seem to recall the response wasn't very helpful. If you want to follow this up further, drop a post on the PLOWED discussion thread, and a few of the guys there will hopefully provide you with more information and advice on the matter:

http://www.single-malt.com/cgi-bin/guestbook.cgi

Cheers,
Admiral

by **Tom** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 5:14 pm

Thanks alot Admiral. Posted the question there.

by **Admiral** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 7:25 am

I see you've got one response there already!

Admiral

by **Lawrence** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:16 pm

Last night a friend, who is a novice whisky drinker, complained to me about his Bowmore 15. He asked if it was OK or had it been contaminated as the nose and taste were completley perfumed. I nosed it and stopped there as the perfume was over whelming.

I wonder if the Bowmore line up is susceptible to exposure to air after opening? I never encountered a line up that is so negatively influenced by this perfume effect. FWP indeed.

by **hpulley** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:00 pm

I've had a dreadful Mariner (15yo) Bowmore of a friends. Couldn't finish the glass which made me feel bad but it was so awful that I just couldn't drink it. It was the tail end of the bottle. On the perfumey bottles I find it gets worse over time until it resembles a Hungarian herbal bitter liqueur, while on good bottles it never develops at all. I don't know what it could be from.

Harry

by **Lawrence** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:03 pm

Last night I was given a glass of the port finished Bowmore Dawn, the initial nose was completely over whelmed by the heavy floral notes. It was very bizarre to say the least and it was only with the addition of some water and a little time that it wore off enough for me to drink it. I think I'm going to avoid the whole Bowmore line up with the exception of the 25.

by **hpulley** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:39 pm

Unfortunately, Lawrence, you are not the first (or the last I'm sure) to become shy of Bowmore's bottlings for this reason. I am too, and even the OK bottles I've had recently have just been OK. Morrison Bowmore has been warned about it, forcefully, but they are putting their heads in the sand about it. They say the floral notes are a characteristic of the distillery!

Harry

by **Tom** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:46 pm

hpulley wrote:They say the floral notes are a characteristic of the distillery!
Harry

Thats all i needed to hear. Apart from the darkest i have here at home, There is no way i will be buying another bottle or even a glass of bowmore again.I been wondering quite awhile why bowmore had this taste and was hoping on explanations like "the cask was rotten" or "something went wrong in the washbacks". But if they are even proud on it then thats the end for me. No matter how you look at it, Shampoo has no place whatsoever in any kind of drink.

by **Lawrence** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:02 pm

Shampoo is a very good description of what I've been tasting. If Bowmore is happy with this then they've lost me as a customer, in ten years they've gone from the top of my list to the bottom. :evil:

by **Admiral** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 3:45 am

Steady on lads...

.....as much as this perfumey / shampoo thing is unpleasant, it is also inconsistent.

For example, no such tainted bottles appear to have found their way to Australia. I have my finger on the pulse amongst several malt clubs and regular Bowmore drinkers across several states here, and no one has mentioned it yet, even though we are very much aware that our colleagues overseas have screamed about it.

The most frustrating thing I find about Bowmore is its variability. When it's bad, it's bad, but when it's good, there are very few malts that can equal it.

Cheers,
Admiral

by **bond** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:37 am

Bowmore has been my favourite companion for sometime now.

While I am yet to sample these shampoo bottlings, must say that oxidation seems to affect Bowmore the most. There is a sharp deterioration once the bottle is opened and partly consumed.

If you have been served a particularly bad dram in a pub, chances are the bottle was opened a while ago.

by **Lawrence** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:52 pm

I've experienced this heavy floral notes from both a long ago opened bottle (6 months) and a just opened that night bottle.

There's an old saying that one bad apple spoils the whole barrell......I'll give Bowmore a rest for a while and keep my eyes open via these threads.

by **Tom** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:36 pm

I too had had this shampoo thing in well, all official bottlings i ever had. Some has it milder then others, the fewest that have it are the 12 Y and the cask strength. I tasted bowmore very much on all types of different occasions and i even bought a bottle of darkest to see if my own bottle would make a difference. nothing, they all have it. i must however say that i havent found it in ANY other bottling i tasted, so IB are obviously free of it so far. The only chance i will drink it again is if i hear from everywhere it is gone, and then i still wait a couple of months to ensure its really gone and give it another try. otherwise it ranks as a waste of money.

by **Admiral** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 12:50 am

You're probably right, but independent bottlings of Bowmore are hard to come by in this country.

As a matter of fact, there is just one store in one of Australia's lesser populated cities which has specially imported some OMC bottlings of Bowmore. Not much for 22 million people!!

The only other source is the SMWS, but again, with a national membership of around 300 or so, the other 21 million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, seven hundred people are pretty hard done by.

Cheers,
Admiral

by **Tom** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:20 am

Wow Admiral, i had no idea it is so hard for you to find decent scotch. How about other scotch then Bowmore? can you get that easyer? I figured Australia was quite fond of scotch and bourbon and it would be drunk everywhere. Once more im completely wrong obviously.

by **Admiral** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 1:28 pm

Sorry Tom, you may have got the wrong impression.

Most of the major OB brands and distilleries are available in Australia.

What I was referring to was that independent bottlings of Bowmore are hard to come by.

The only independent bottlings we get in Australia are MacKillops Choice - and even then, less than 5% of liquor stores would actually have any of these.

There is the one store in Adelaide which I mentioned above (which now has a sister store in Sydney) that acts as an agent for Gordon & MacPhail, but other than that, independent bottlings are virtually non-existent

However, all the usual OB bottlings - Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Macallan, Bowmore, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Glenmorangie, Glenfarclas, Bunnahabhain, Aberlour, Ardbeg, Talisker, Glenkinchie, Benriach, Cragganmore, Oban, Highland Park, Strathisla, etc, etc are available in the better quality outlets around the country.

You were right....Australia is very fond of scotch and bourbon, and we make sure you can easily get it in one form or another! :wink:

I'm also proud to say that - per capita - we are the world's biggest beer drinkers!

Cheers,
Admiral

by **Rudy** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 11:04 pm

Most of the people I know refer to this characterictic as 'soapy'. One calls it Badedas, which is a brand for a shower gel here in the Netherlands.

There is some good news though.
I have a single cask bottling of 1992, bottled at 6yo that really is pleasant, young and crisp, with a hint of peat and smoke.
Recently, there was a Whisky Galore bottling (afaik 12 yo) that was quite nice as well. To me, that are good signs for things getting better!

On the other hand, the Bowmores of the 60's are great whiskies. Most I tasted were from Peerless, they were all very, VERY impressive.

by **Lawrence** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 2:19 am

Yes, I agree, the Bowmore malts from the 1930's are completely different malts from those that are being released today with the exception of the current Bowmore 25.

by **Admiral** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 4:31 am

Lawrence.....was that a typo???? If you've experienced Bowmore bottlings from the 1930's, then I'm insanely jealous!

:evil:

Admiral

by **Lawrence** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 4:33 am

AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!! Sorry about that, yes a typo, I meant to type in the 1960's but hit the 3 key by mistake and compounded my error by not proof reading.

by **Admiral** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 4:38 am

Yes.....we need to be very careful about poof reading! :lol:

by **maltcollector** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 6:29 pm

Bond I agree entirely. Bowmore darkest used to be my favourite dram until 1 day i opened a bottle and it just did not taste the same, and over time it got steadily worse.
These days when i open a bottle, I like to finish it within 2 weeks,
obviously this is a bit drastic but thats what drinking a hell of a lot of Bowmore has done to me

Whats the longest anyone has had a single bottled opened for without variation on taste over time ?

by **Lawrence** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 6:34 pm

This subject has been discussed quite a bit on the forum and the general feeling is you have between 12 and 18 months from opening before you notice adverse affects. The amount of air in the bottle is also a factor, the more air then the faster the malts break down. I would imagine that Bowmores are being affected at a faster rate.

by **bond** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:34 am

Lawrence:

I would tend to put it more at 6-9 months. Dunno if we have the luxury of 12-18 months

by **Admiral** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:10 am

.....or the patience!!

by **Deactivated Member** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 5:21 am

An interesting thread. I hate Bowmore, one of a very few I feel that strongly about; I've never had one that I liked. This FWP effect just might be the problem. I will look for an IB sometime to see if it makes a difference. Maybe their bottler doesn't rinse all the dishwashing liquid out of the bottles before filling!

by **Lawrence** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 3:48 am

I'm having a OB Bowmore 12 at the moment that's been open more than 6 months and is 80% empty, while the FWP is present it is not over whelming and I'm quite surprised to find that it's in harmony with the peat and caramel on the nose. At the end the FWP vanishes and all that remains on the nose is peat and caramel.

by **Admiral** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:44 am

So did you enjoy it? Was it a pleasing dram, or did you drink it under duress?

Cheers,
Bowmore Advocate :wink:

by **Lawrence** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:04 pm

I drank it under duress but I still enjoyed it. I actually went back and had two more under duress before going to a New Year's party. By the time I came home I had experienced duress all night.

Happy New year.

Lawrence

by **micheluzzo** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:04 pm

in germany we have the the same discussions about the perfume notes and most of the malt drinkers don't like it either. Interesting is, that in most of the younger Bowmore bottlings from the UB you don't find such perfume notes. Why not?
...and not only the bottlings from the 60ies are very good you will find very good ones from 70ties too.
When we tried the first Peerless Bottlings (from 66, 68 and 69), the first one was very fruity, the second one was fruity with herb notes and the last one was fruity and peaty.
micheluzzo