Bowmore 2003/2013 Whisky-Doris

Today’s review makes an excellent case for younger whiskies, proving once more that you can’t go wrong with an Indy Bowmore. This is one of those whiskies where the terms “complex” or “multi-layered don’t even come close to describing the sheer depth of the dram. Matured in a bourbon cask (#20188) for 10 years, this Bowmore, was bottled by independent bottler Whisky-Doris. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I discovered this bottle on the whiskyhuis website for a more than reasonable price. Expectations were high after a solid 90 score on Serge Valentin’s whiskyfun website.

Description: fairly pale in color: greenish yellow gold, a swirl with the glass reveals some nice long legs.

Nose: the multi-act performance opens with notes of sea sand with lemon and butter in the background. Afterwards a second layer reveals itself adding scents of yeast with a faint whiff of smoke to the ensemble. Time will unlock the soul of this dram and coat all previous notes with boundless bald layers of peat reek.

Mouth: the light body comes with a very fresh mouth feel (Frisk beware!), notes of soot & tar with a bit of salty lemon squash and a dash olive oil. Afterwards the dram opens up flavours of pure peat smoked mated barley.

Finish: a peppery finish with just a few drops of orange oil. Salty and bitter with a hint of lemon in the tail. Later on the peat starts to seep through and lingers on.

The Verdict:

This whisky grows with each sip, revealing a new flavor. Take a sip, process it, leave it alone for five minutes and repeat. I promise you will discover something with every try. The nose really needs air to blossom, but I’d refer from adding water as it does not improve upon the dram: neat is the way to go here. This is one of those bottles that you simply can’t ignore for its price, points all around, buy alert on green!

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