[WHISKY TASTING] Bowmore Black Rock 💧 by steemswede

whisky · @steemswede · Jan 4 '17 (edited)

$9.14

[WHISKY TASTING] Bowmore Black Rock 💧

<html>
<p>Bowmore, established in 1779 by local merchant David Simpson on the eastern shores of Loch Indaal, is Islay's oldest distilleries and one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. When smoky whisky became a fad in the 1990s, Bowmore was somewhat overshadowed by its neighboring distilleries Lagavulin, Laphroig and Ardbeg, which probably can be attributed to Bowmore's less smoky profile. Everything that wasn't a smoke bomb was dismissed. Which is quite sad, since Bowmore's less smoky profile gives room to so many other things.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/d366fe7c8e.jpg" width="815" height="631"/></p>
<h2>History</h2>
<p>In 1837 the distillery was taken over by the Glasgow family Mutter and from 1852 William and James Mutter, the latter also vice-consul in Glasgow for the Ottoman Empire, Portugal and Brazil, where the managers of Bowmore. The brothers expanded properly: fetched grain and coal to Islay in their own steamboat, a 145-tonner that also shipped the whisky casks to Glasgow. Bowmore's name was spread and the demand increased. During the whisky boom in 1892 Joseph Robert Holmes took over and managed it until 1925 when the firm Sheriff JB &amp; Co acquired it. In 1939 Bowmore was forced to shut down and allow the Navy to move in with Squadron 422 of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Yes, nationalization of property was apparently not just a Soviet thing.</p>
<p>After the war some 20 shaky years followed for Bowmore and the new owner, William Grigor &amp; Sons was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1963. When the blender company Robertson &amp; Baxter purchased the remaining spirits, Bowmore had reached its absolute low point in terms of production (only 230000 liters). Everything was to be used in their blended whisky Cutty Sark. The chaotic ownership replacements can be followed on the wall of the still room, where each owner had their own brass plate.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/d3670f03b6.jpg" width="815" height="611"/></p>
<p>Whisky broker Stanley P Morrison purchased the estate in 1963 for only 117000 pounds. Morrison installed two new stills, a new mash tun and new fermentation tanks. The Royal Navy helped with the shipping of it all to the island; perhaps as payback for the confiscation during the war. It's during the this period that Bowmore reached stardom. Bottles from this period are today some of the most sought-after whisky and requires a minor fortune. The Japanese drinks company Suntory bought large shares of the company in 1987 and since 1994 they own the whole company, still named Morrison Bowmore Distillers.</p>
<h2>The specific character of Bowmore&nbsp;</h2>
<p>The recipe follows the classic Islay template. The water flows through rocky terrain, crossing bogs and acquires a naturally peaty flavor. It's an extremely soft water with a mineral content of 1 ppm of calcium carbonate. The water is lead from the River Laggan to the distillery through a channel that was dug out in 1825. The peat near Bowmore is more sandy, unlike the more earthy quality elsewhere on Islay. Bowmore is one of the very few Scottish distilleries that still has a traditional malting floor, and about 40% of the malt used in their whisky is malted on Bowmore; the rest is purchased from Port Ellen Maltings.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/d3675840b3.jpg" width="815" height="543"/></p>
<p><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/d36734a3d8.jpg" width="815" height="611"/></p>
<p><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/d3677b4c38.jpg" width="815" height="543"/></p>
<p>The germination takes 6-7 days. The barley is tossed four times a day. Before the drying, the malt is crushed to make it easier for the smoke to penetrate deeper into the grain: the result is a cleaner smokiness instead of the typical medicinal Islay smoke. 18 hours of billowing peat smoking is followed by 42 hours of exposure to hot air. Considerably shorter smoking time compared to the more intense Islay malts on the south coast. The peat level ends up at around 20-25 parts per million (ppm) phenols, which can be compared with Ardbeg's ~55 and Lagavulin's ~35. Instead of a heavy smokiness, they often offer lovely exotic fruits such as papaya, pineapple and mango.</p>
<h2>Bowmore Black Rock</h2>
<p>Bowmore produces around two million liters of pure alcohol every year and is today the second best-selling Islay whisky after Laphroig. Unfortunately Bowmore still has a reputation among connoisseurs for being bland. I agree that it's a distillery that performs unevenly. Brilliant whisky is unabashedly released together with fiascos. Their NAS (no age statement) releases are often flawed and bland. This time we'll be trying one of these NAS releases, the one named Black Rock that was first released in 2014. It's a travel retail release that is matured mainly on ex-sherry casks. Besides the various NAS bottles, the core range today consists of 9 yo, 12 yo, 15 yo, 17 yo, 18, 21 yo, 25 yo and 30 yo expressions. Let's see how the Black Rock fares!</p>
<p><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/d395840416.jpg" width="815" height="862"/></p>
<p><strong>ABV:</strong> 40%<br>
<strong>Age:</strong> NAS<br>
<strong>Region:</strong> Islay<br>
<strong>Price:</strong> ~45-50 USD / 1L<br>
Colored with E150 and chill filtered&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Appearance:</strong> Deep, bronze color. Considering that it contains E150 (caramel coloring) I have no idea how much of it is influence from the sherry cask.</p>
<p><strong>Nose:</strong> A tangy sweetness is the first thing I notice. Blood orange mixed with sea salt and a light touch of peat smoke. Sherry sweetness and hazelnut cream pops up along with dates with nougat filling. In the background are vanilla and cardamom tones. No medicinal notes at all. The smoke gives a feeling of a campfire that is about to go out. The sherry notes are not very impressive, but suggest wasted, inactive or bad sherry casks.</p>
<p><strong>Palate:</strong> Here the peat smoke has clearer arrival and fills the mouth with a mere explosion that fades pretty quickly and gives way to caramel and sherry sweetness. Young and unruly smoke with ashy aroma collides with a mixture of overripe fruit and burnt caramel. It all feels a bit watery. With 46% it would probably be a bit more interesting.</p>
<p><strong>Finish: </strong>Sweet and watery caramel together with a smokiness that brings to mind a fire-ravaged house that just has been doused in water by the fire brigade. Short and not very interesting.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Meaningless and boring. It's releases like this that give Bowmore a bad reputation. Shame. Stick with the regular 12 year old. Or if you want a lot of smoke but is short of money; simply get a Laphroaig 10. Watering down whisky to 40% will give more bottles, yes Suntory, but do you really want to sacrifice Bowmore's reputation? Final verdict: 68 points out of 100.</p>
<h3>If you've already bought a bottle, Ralfy here has some great tips on how to cope with bad/flawed whisky:</h3>
<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN-1mNqCLpc</p>
<h2>If you have any whisky related questions don't be afraid of asking! I'll do my best to answer them. Cheers, or as they say in Scotland: Sláinte!</h2>
<h2><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/3fb6279c8a.png" width="36" height="35"/>&nbsp;@SteemSwede</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>You can find my other whisky reviews here:<br>
<br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-a-christmas-malt-from-the-heart-of-speyside">Glenfarclas, Christmas Edition, 1995</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-a-maritime-masterpiece-from-the-rugged-north">Old Pulteney 21</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-glenfiddich-style-icon-and-1-malt-whisky-in-the-world">Glenfiddich 12</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-world-whiskies-awards-winner-2015-no-true-scotsman">Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique, 2016</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-caol-ila-12-yo-still-one-of-the-best-bang-for-the-buck-whiskies-around">Caol Ila 12 yo</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-the-rare-treat-of-a-26-year-old-whisky">Linkwood 26 yo</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-glenfarclas-105-a-rowdy-beast-to-be-tamed-but-not-by-a-novice">Glenfarclas 105</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-golden-french-nectar-from-the-northern-highlands">Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-everyday-luxury-from-the-legendary-glenlivet-distillery">Glenlivet 18 yo</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-tasting-stunning-balance-from-the-rugged-isle-of-skye">Talisker 18 yo</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-review-ancnoc-rascan-anyone-for-smoked-fruit-compot">anCnoc Rascan</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-review-cheers-to-my-600-followers">Glenfarclas 17 yo</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-review-black-art-or-black-tart">Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1</a><br>
<a href="https://steemit.com/whisky/@steemswede/whisky-review-a-tale-of-two-octomore-s">Octomore 5.1 &amp; 6.2</a></h3>
</html>

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`curator_payout_value`	0.000 SBD
`pending_payout_value`	0.000 SBD
`promoted`	0.000 SBD
`body_length`	80
`author_reputation`	246,730,149,688,050
`root_title`	"[WHISKY TASTING] Bowmore Black Rock 💧"
`beneficiaries`	`[]`
`max_accepted_payout`	1,000,000.000 SBD
`percent_steem_dollars`	10,000