Bowmore Master’s Selection 22 Year Old Scotch Review (2023)
By Richard Thomas
Rating: A
(Credit: Beam-Suntory)
In an intersection between car nerdom and whisky enthusiasm, Bowmore began a collaboration with luxury/supercar-maker Aston Martin. James Bond might prefer Macallan (in the movies anyway; in the Fleming novels he is partial to Jim Beam), but the folks who sometimes make his armored spy cars are working with Bowmore.
This installment is drawn from two different batches of stock. We’ve been told one was distilled in 1997 and aged in American oak hogsheads (a 63 gallon cask, usually built from ex-bourbon barrel staves), and the other distilled in 2000 and aged in Sherry butts. The casks were dumped and married in 2022, hence the 22 year age statement, based on the younger of the pair. This was bottled at 51.5% ABV, quite strong for Scotch.
The Scotch
After taking on the look of dull gold in the glass, the nose leads with leads with dark honey, a tropical aspect of mango and eucalyptus, and a certain leathery aspect. The peat is there, but faint and hovering around the edges. However, that peat roars to the forefront upon taking a sip. Vegetal smoke with traces of saline become an equal partner to the honeyed and tropical sweetness, accented by a pinch of pepper and a healthy serving of hoary wood. The finish rolls on for a long spell, with traces of smoke and Sherry fading away in tandem. This 2023 Master’s Selection a rich, lovely example of Bowmore in its 20s.
The Price
For a pretty well-aged, Islay single malt, this bottle is actually rather reasonably priced at $450.
