Bowmore…..Best Whisky in the world not Talisker 18

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Yes you have all been suckered



Bowmore…..Best Whisky in the world!

Bowmore 18Years Old Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky has just been voted the “Best in Show Whisky” at the San Francisco Spirits Competition, one of the foremost drinks competitions in the world. It was also awarded a Double Gold medal.

I mean how could you all be so gullible

and you can take that to the bank (with a pinch or even a sack of salt) oh the irony of it all

Anyway for you interest see

http://www.sfspiritscomp.com/

[Deactivated Member]

A Double Gold Medal! Wow! And a recommendation from a Triple Gold Member....

[bamber]

I have just awarded the first quadruple Platinum to a vatting of Wild Turkey 12yo (what was left in my glass) and some Cadenhead's Balblair and another couple of mystery malts.

Cleverly named Bamber's Blend, this very exclusive vatting is only available in my front room.

It actually scored 101/100 !!

[bamber]

Update - my neighbour has scored it only 3.5 *'s giving it an average score of 14.7 oranges

[Mr Fjeld]

It must be a mistake. Everyone knows Ardbeg Ten is the best whisky in the world!

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Glad ye are all taking it with the afore mentioned pinch of salt....



So what is you w.... ooopppss are we not banned such conversations

[irishwhiskeychaser]

A Double Gold Medal! Wow! And a recommendation from a Triple Gold Member....

Is there an OMG award ????

Update - my neighbour has scored it only 3.5 *'s giving it an average score of 14.7 oranges

That's a dangerous past time ... tell him get out of those trees ...

It must be a mistake. Everyone knows Ardbeg Ten is the best whisky in the world!

But of course ... all hail to the small height

[Reggaeblues]

For me, the best thing about Talisker 18 being voted the "Best whisky in The world" was the ephemeral satisfaction of having bought a bottle, sung its praises(even compared it to Ardbeg '77 on this forum!) and all but emptied it long BEFORE this award was publicised!

but once such smugness wears off you realise what a load of horse manure it all is! when I discovered the Talisker 18, at my local of all places, way back on Valentine's night, it WAS the best whisky in the world!

...and when, several weeks later I dropped into the vintage House in Soho and was more or less invited to help myself to a generous dram of a "new" Bowmore, I can tell you, that evening the Bowmore 18 was EASILY TBWITW!!

The finish lasted all the way to East Croydon...

When my 85 YO dad, my neighbour and I got together a few years back and sampled 13 malts in one sitting, we drunkenly but resolutely voted the 1984 Lagavulin distiller's edition "BWITW"...narrowly beating a Mac18...and easily beating the rest.

Right now I'm on my last dram of Laphroaig CS...and it MUST be the best whisky in the world...certainly the best whisky of the evening!

[Reggaeblues]

Aye...'tis easy to mourn the passing of a great bottle...and to hail it in dewy eyed retrospect as "The Beast..."

oops, did I say that? Of course, I meant "The Best..."

Freudian slip o' the finger me hearties! But given the slightly less than rave reviews given the "official" Ardbeg animal, maybe not so innapropriate.

"The Beast is dead! Long live The Beast!"

...and it hails from Laphroaig!

[killerwhale]

depends on my mood which malt I prefer best though just for the fun of it, Talisker 18 is a top notch, quality, yummy malt that can have the title this year.....
btw, did I read in the 'Bible 06' that Jimmy ranks Grants FR nose as massively great...? o_O
all awards etc., are taken with a shovel full of salt..... but fun to read and discuss....

[Ize]

It must be a mistake. Everyone knows Ardbeg Ten is the best whisky in the world!

Darned thing, I did not know this!!

[Dangerous_Dave]

I was also bemused by some of these awards.

Distiller of the Year - Highland Park.

Personally I think they should be shot with shit for replacing the beautiful Orcadian packaging with something more appropriate for a Bourbon bottle.

[Deactivated Member]

Personally I think they should be shot with shit for replacing the beautiful Orcadian packaging with something more appropriate for a Bourbon bottle.

Ah, if you've ever listened to Gerry's tosh, you'd know that the old packaging was ditched because it wasn't authentic Orcadian - it was done by a design agency in London. The new, genuine, Orcadian labelling was done by a design agency in Glasgow. You can read about it on their website.

http://www.highlandpark.co.uk/whisky/packaging/

[Dangerous_Dave]

Personally I think they should be shot with shit for replacing the beautiful Orcadian packaging with something more appropriate for a Bourbon bottle.

Ah, if you've ever listened to Gerry's tosh, you'd know that the old packaging was ditched because it wasn't authentic Orcadian - it was done by a design agency in London. The new, genuine, Orcadian labelling was done by a design agency in Glasgow. You can read about it on their website.

http://www.highlandpark.co.uk/whisky/packaging/

That is utter tosh indeed.

"When Highland Park first appeared as a proprietary single malt at the end of the 1970s, all the design work was carried out by a London agency. There were no genuine Orcadian roots to the design."

What can be more Orcadian than a painting of the Ring of Brodgar and other Orcadian scenes? The new bottle bears the same norse "H" as the old one. Why are they persisting with this emblem that has "no genuine Orcadian roots"?

I couldn't find any reference to Glasgow, but...

"Pearlfisher are an independent design partnership, with offices in London and New York"



"Writing “Product of Scotland” above the logo assists in anchoring Highland Park."



Anchoring the Orkneys in Scotland is not without controversy for some Orcadians. It's a bit like slapping "Made in England" on a cornish pasty.

I am sad to see negative comments about the previous design, which I felt was outstanding and (having been there) evoked the feel of the Orkneys beautifully.

Poor show HP.

[Deactivated Member]

"Andy Bowman, the award-winning designer at the head of Mountain Creative Design, was tasked with re-branding Highland Park; the brief was to reinforce the brand values and to focus on integrity. Having worked with Highland Park before, Andy was already a fan."

Mountain Creative Design is based in Glasgow.

In all seriousness, Gerry Tosh told me that people didn't understad that the pictures on the old labels were supposed to be from Orkney. It confused them. I would have thought the island nature of Orkney was its great selling point and the images hit the nail on the head. He also said that people had liked the glug when they poured from wide necked bottles and that this had been lost when they narrowed the neck. Obvious solution - go back to the old bottle shape. He also said that the old bottles didn't stand out on the supermarket shelf. For my money, the dark design and striking picture stood out better than the current, rather bland offering.

To me, it smacks of new brand manager and new marketing man trying to justify their existence by bringing in unnecessary radical change.

[Deactivated Member]

I loved the old labels, too, but the overlooked factor here is that I have been to Orkney, as have you, D_D. The overwhelming majority of HP drinkers have not, and as has been pointed out, the pictures mean nothing to them. The new design is handsome enough in my mind, but I think you are correct that something vital has been lost. Part of what is special about HP is its geography. Instead of chucking the Orcadian scenes, an updating ought to have been done, with the scenes labeled, and some further explanation on the box, tying the landscape to the whisky. An extraordinary malt from an extraordinary place! Even a simple silhouette of the Ring of Brodgar would be very evocative. Now where could they find something like that?











Well, lookie down here....

[Dangerous_Dave]

I loved the old labels, too, but the overlooked factor here is that I have been to Orkney, as have you, D_D. The overwhelming majority of HP drinkers have not, and as has been pointed out, the pictures mean nothing to them. The new design is handsome enough in my mind, but I think you are correct that something vital has been lost. Part of what is special about HP is its geography. Instead of chucking the Orcadian scenes, an updating ought to have been done, with the scenes labeled, and some further explanation on the box, tying the landscape to the whisky. An extraordinary malt from an extraordinary place! Even a simple silhouette of the Ring of Brodgar would be very evocative. Now where could they find something like that?











Well, lookie down here....

I think that's a very fair post. Having said that one of my incentives for going to Orkney (and I'm sure one of yours..?) were the beautiful pictures on the Highland Park packaging!

I can't help feeling there is an attempt here to make the brand more appealing to a young audience, by making it look a bit less "twee" and more like a bottle of Bourbon, that could sit comfortably behind the bar of a trendy club.

I'm not mad enough to stop drinking what is a superb dram, but I can't help feeling us diehard HP drinkers have lost something of the "Orkney experience" from the bottle.

I would be interested to hear what other people made of the Bowmore rebranding too.

D

[recordmeister]

i've never been a fan of the Bowmore branding. To my mind you have to go a long, long way to beat both Ardbeg and Laphroaig for their branding. Anyone who has joined the Ardbeg Commitee or bought the Peat Pack, can not fail to give them "Best Branded Distillery" Triple Gold Medal! Followed closely by Laphroaigs awesome drinking room in Islay (just brilliant!) with the leather bound journals with their members names in. Really; very, very good!

[WhiskyBrat]

I really like the new Highland Park bottle I think it was pretty brave of them to move away from such an iconic design to something new. From what I hear a few Whisky brands are going to be moving in a new bottle direction shortly.

I think the new Bowmore branding is very strong, unlike that one with the manky seagulls on it!

[martin grant]

I think the new Bowmore branding is very strong, unlike that one with the manky seagulls on it!

That's a great description WB

[Dangerous_Dave]

I thought the Bowmore logo with the "manky seagulls" looked a bit 1980s and tired. I think the new label is modern but traditional and in keeping with the product in the bottle (my wife hates it!). I don't like the bottle as much - a bit modernist for my taste, but with the more traditional looking label it seems to work quite well.

I'm not sure about the new visitor centre a bit style over substance - I liked the "pile it high" approach of the old shop.

[Deactivated Member]

At the risk of offending everyone, I thought the Bowmore packaging did need updating as it looked weak - but perhaps it should have played up the Islay theme by adding strength of colour to the picture of Bowmore harbour. The Bordeaux and Voyage packaging showed how much you could achieve by building on the theme rather than taking it away completely. The new bottles are just a bit bland.

I've never liked the Laphroaig 10 presentation. The label is far too cluttered. If you're going to do green glass and bw label then the label needs to be very minimalist - the Laphroaig 15 came close to working but I think it probably still has too many fonts at play. The Feis Ile one I've just got is a real dogs breakfast of a label - so many fonts, shapes, sizes and all too cluttered. It looks a bit amateur.

As for Ardbeg, I just don't like the olive green, and the "A" from the Book of Kells looks dated without being retro chic. To be honest, the Ardbeg packaging really put me off trying the whisky for many years becasue it looked cheap and nasty. I suppose familiarity makes a difference and now I know the whisky and really rate some of their older bottlings, I suppose I don't see what I used to see.

[halfasleep81]

"Andy Bowman, the award-winning designer at the head of Mountain Creative Design, was tasked with re-branding Highland Park; the brief was to reinforce the brand values and to focus on integrity. Having worked with Highland Park before, Andy was already a fan."

Mountain Creative Design is based in Glasgow.

In all seriousness, Gerry Tosh told me that people didn't understad that the pictures on the old labels were supposed to be from Orkney. It confused them. I would have thought the island nature of Orkney was its great selling point and the images hit the nail on the head. He also said that people had liked the glug when they poured from wide necked bottles and that this had been lost when they narrowed the neck. Obvious solution - go back to the old bottle shape. He also said that the old bottles didn't stand out on the supermarket shelf. For my money, the dark design and striking picture stood out better than the current, rather bland offering.

To me, it smacks of new brand manager and new marketing man trying to justify their existence by bringing in unnecessary radical change.

Just to set the record straight I did a bit of research on this one and it was Pearlfisher that did the bottles and packaging. Mountain designed the new highland park "h" - says so in the books at the distillery (which they also designed - and are full of the dramatic imagery that fans associate with the Orcadian nectar)