BowMore

Bowmore's History

In 1779, John P. Simpson founded the Bowmore distillery on the South Eastern shore of Loch Indaal. Gaelic for ‘Great Reef’, Bowmore is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland and was established as a farming distillery (as is common for distilleries). However, it is believed it didn’t enter whisky production until 1816. It remained under Simpson’s ownership until it was formally acquired by the Mutter brothers in 1837. It began to gain traction as a whisky and even garnered the interest of Windsor Castle in 1841, where a cask was requested. Such an occurrence was a notable event at the time: the English palate had previously not entertained Scottish whisky. The distillery went on to change ownership several more times until 1963, when it was bought by broker Stanley P. Morgan. Japanese distillery Suntory bought a stake in 1989 and subsequently took over the distillery in 1994.

Bowmore Production

Bowmore produces 2 million litres annually. Fermentation takes place in traditional wooden washbacks. The liquid then goes through two wash stills and two spirit stills. The warehouses of malt are given their briny, marine flavours from their location next to the Atlantic Ocean on the Isle of Islay (an island of the Inner Hebrides.) The Scotch matures in a cold, humid environment with most of the Bowmore dunnage’s being quite flat. They additionally are the only distillery to have a warehouse below sea level. The distillery sources most of its barley locally, but still requires additional product from the mainland. To help supply the distillery with imported barley and coal, they bought a steamship and updated the production process.

Tasting and Malt

The Bowmore is a classic Islay Whisky, with an ocean-aromatic, heavy peat smoke notes and a hint of violet flowers. The last note is a specialty of the Bowmore distillery character. The presence of the violet note depends on the bottling, the level of violets will come through the sherry or wine aromas. The malt is dried over a peat fire, and thus achieves the typical smoky peat flavour. The 12 Year Old Single Malt is warm on the palate, with a hint of dark chocolate breaking through the smokiness.

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