Bowmore 1964 Black
| Category | SINGLE MALT |
| Distillery | Bowmore |
| Bottler | Distillery Bottling |
| Bottling Series | - |
| Vintage | 1964 |
| Bottled Year | 2007 |
| Age | 42년 |
| Cask Type | Oloroso Sherry Casks |
| Cask Number | - |
| Bottles Released | 827 |
| ABV | 40.5% |
| Volume | 700 ml 750 ml |
| Label | - |
| Country | Scotland |
| Region | Islay |
Flavor Profile
Tasting Notes
Colour
deep amber with brownish hues
air Nose
a magnificent sherry and peat combo! Exceptional tarry notes, ‘good’ sulphur (no cooked eggs), very beefy as well, developing on an amazing number of aromas coming out in waves. At random, we have superb camphory and resinous notes, sea water and seaweed, fresh mint and verbena, soy and plum sauces, coffee and toffee, slightly burnt caramel, brandy-soaked prunes, oranges, hints of hare belly or well-hung pheasant, caramelised wine sauce, hints of old rancio, strong Dutch liquorice, chocolate... Yes, what a bunch. Truly exceptional to be honest. And god knows I’d have loved to be able to bash this one because of its insane price... No luck, it is exceptional indeed, even if it wanes a wee bit after fifteen minutes or so
restaurant Palate
what a big, fat, oily, hugely concentrated attack! Did they cook it for hours or what? Amazingly thick indeed, yet not inelegant at all, all on bitter chocolate, prunes and peat (no big bold peat, that is), with also loads of spices starting to storm your palate. Cinnamon, cloves, heavy liquorice, paprika... Also espresso coffee, armagnac (I know people who would think this is a great old cask strength armagnac). Some kinds of ‘tannins’ like in unstemmed grape brandy, certainly pleasant here even if they are quite drying. Grape pips. Orange liqueur. Again, how, fat, how thick, how bold!
timer Finish
long, very drying but not unpleasantly so, mostly on something like orange liqueur in which you’d have let liquorice and all kinds of roots infuse. Maybe even ginseng. Oh, and there’s quite some old plum brandy in the aftertaste... Well, this is not for everyone, and it’s not only because of its frankly over the top price tag (around 680 euros – no typo). I found the 1974 from two years ago to be better balanced and more elegant, but this incredible Hulk of a Laphroaig sure is a great sherried Islayer. But again, you really have to like your whisky black. No wonder they chose an unusual (and very Cadenheadian) black label for it. 92 points. YET A LITTLE SHOPPING - It's amazing what one can find on the Web (no kiddin'!) For instance a Chinese whisky named Ikusa , with 'Special taste for Chinese food ' (USD 36.00 a 12b case) or another one, a Scotch this time, named SKL , about which the wholesaler wrote 'Finest whisky in Scothland, Tasted like Chivas (maybe better)' offered with 'Free trial available in Singapore & KL, Malaysia to witness its unique functions'. A little dearer though: wholesale price USD 10.00 a bottle, retail price USD 40.00 (yeah, sure!) Now, the good news is on the backlabel: 'It's probably the finest whisky of this century.' That makes all the difference, doesn't it! MUSIC – Recommended listening: game for some good, honest, America-like country-rock today? So, let's have Grevious Angel doing Down by love.mp3 and then buy their music... September 26, 2007 TASTING - THREE OLD BOWMORES Bowmore 42 yo 1964/2007 ‘Black’ (40.5%, OB, 827 bottles) A vatting of five oloroso sherry casks, from Bowmore’s first distillation using indirect steam heating (vs. direct firing). We absolutely adored the first edition of the older Black Bowmore (96) but found the second and the ‘final’ (at the time) editions slightly lumpish and too much on the ‘blackberry jam - chocolate’ side, the final edition being even a bit tannic, but they were still great whiskies (both 91)
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