🥃 Bowmore

Bowmore is a distillery and single malt Scotch whisky brand in the village of Bowmore, in the middle of the island of Islay, on the shore of Loch Indaal. The brand itself claims to be Islay's first licensed distillery, dating from 1779, but Whiskypedia considers that date disputed. Bowmore now belongs to the Suntory group, and the style of the whisky is gently peated.

History. The earliest documented licence dates from 1816 and belonged to John Simpson. The distillery was later owned by the Mutter and Holms families and several companies. In 1963 it was bought by Stanley P. Morrison, and in 1987 the company was renamed Morrison Bowmore Distillers; it also includes Auchentoshan and Glen Garioch. In 1994 Suntory took full control, and since 2014 Whiskypedia names Beam Suntory as the parent company.

How it is made. There are four stills, two for the first distillation and two for the second, with a capacity of roughly 2 million litres of pure alcohol a year. The distillery's own floor maltings cover about 40% of its malt needs. The malt has 25-30 ppm of phenols, and the fresh spirit has 8-10 ppm, so the whisky's character is moderately smoky. Water is taken from the River Laggan. The No.1 Vaults sit below the water level of Loch Indaal, and one of their walls is part of the village's sea wall.

The range. The core ages on the website are 9, 12, 15 and 18 years. Black Bowmore from 1995 was matured entirely in sherry casks.

Why this matters to you. Islay whiskies can be either heavily smoky or moderate: by Bowmore's own data, 25-30 ppm in the malt places it among the moderate ones. The four ages on the website are different drinks, and the number on the label is the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle. Read the date 1779 as the brand's slogan, not as a proven fact. The WHO reminds us that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.