I haven't reviewed a Bowmore yet and it is an omission I've been meaning to solve for a while. Its a popular Islay distillery that makes whisky I enjoy for sure. Try Bowmore 12 year old paired with Oysters - wow! Its all I can tell you.
Here we are trying a special edition Bowmore - The Laimrig. Its 15 years old and bottled at higher strength (I assume cask strength) and I have to guess if its un-chillfiltered or not and whether it has colouring added or not because it doesn't say on the label. Its aged in sherry casks so its brown colour makes sense but I wonder a bit about the red-ish tinge to it. Visual evidence suggests its not chill filtered - the legs move slowly hanging onto the glass and adding water allows one to see all of the oils swirl around.
Bowmore seems to have distillery characteristics that come through almost every time - saltiness and a sort of black liquorice and medicine or what I've decided is Fisherman's Friend lozenges. Not sure where the second quality comes from but the saltiness apparently comes from the warehouse walls that face sea-spray constantly on Islay.
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Colour: Brown with almost a red tinge.
Nose: molasses and smoke, brine, black liquorice, and medicine of some sort. Adding water makes it smell more of a dark caramel with coarse salt.
Taste: Sweet and peaty and smokey. This has some serious power to it. It goes over a dark honey and raisins thread swirling with smoke and then moves onto salt and that Fisherman's Friend flavour that is distinctive. On a cold day, this will feel good for sure. Water softens this and spreads the flavours a bit.
Finish: good persistence and makes it into the chest with some warmth.
When would I drink this? Keep this for colder or wetter day (both cold and wet would be ideal). Its rich and smokey and would go well with winter, mountain air, or on a dreary day. Good effort from the guys at Bowmore. I'll have to review some more later!
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