Bowmore 10yo Old Particular
Douglas Laing 2024 Release | 48.4% ABV
Score: 8/10
Something special.
TL;DR
A perfect Bowmore at a medium age statement
Reputation and Redemption
For those who care what others think, as nearly all of us do, our reputation is all that matters.
It’s the gold standard by which we are perceived in the wider world and forms the foundation of our inter-personal relationships. Can we be trusted? What is our word worth? Are we empathetic? Smart? Funny?
For professionals or scientists, reputation is everything. A whole life can be spent building one. Entire cottage industries exist to protect the online personas of everyone from auto mechanics to florists to accountants to regular people vulnerable to swindles and theft.
On the other side, more than ever, the public has been given vast power over the reputations of others, often anonymously, through a ratings system attached to nearly everything imaginable: TripAdvisor, Trustpilot, Yelp, Google reviews, Reddit, CNET, Whiskybase, Dramface.
Despite these opinion aggregators being a relatively new phenomenon, it doesn’t change the fundamentals: our reputation is summarily the collective opinion of others.
Most people care deeply about theirs. I know I do, both personally and professionally. As the great Tony Montana once said, “All I have in this world is my b*lls and my word and I don’t break ‘em for no one.”
In some cases, negative reputations are unfairly attained as constraints by a society that promotes conformity, to which Joan Jett declared so eloquently: “I don’t give a damn ‘bout my bad reputation…!” In her case it was a statement of rebellion.
But to others, reputations are fungible, a façade, something that can be discarded or manipulated. Carefully built not on principle or honor but in pursuit of profit. The way companies carefully craft their brands through advertising, attempting to fabricate what others must earn.
Or, as many legacy organizations do, utilize past glory to feign greatness while representing hollow versions of their former selves, cheapened by tarnished products or poor imitations cast upon the growing heap of enshittification.
Especially if quality commitments are sacrificed in the name of higher marketing budgets. But this tends to trade one customer for another in hopes of higher volume. This is where reputations break down.
But, for all our faults, we humans do have a few good qualities. One is that we generously allow second chances, for people to earn back what was once lost. Comebacks are possible, common even.
Our best movies and TV shows all feature redemption arcs. And the most notable characters in fiction, from Jean Valjean to Darth Vader to Boromir to Prince Zuko to Severus Snape, all absolved themselves through noble acts. A reputation thought lost became a legacy rewritten and restored.
We love a redemption story.
This is one.
Newly welcomed to the Dramface splinter cell colloquially known as “the Colonials,” I was unknowingly but happily thrust into a lively and spirited group chat among its far-flung members. The world’s time zones are adroitly represented by activity at all hours of the day.
Aside from getting to know them all personally: their families, daily lives, workaday grind, taste in movies, breakfast choices, etc. the conversation regularly shifts to whisky. Inevitable when nine opinionated lovers of the Water of Life are given space to obsessively pontificate over the liquid that brought them all together.
Apart from a general disdain for North America’s native corn-based brown spirit (I will not utter its name here), opinions are as varied as the individuals themselves.
Reputation is a core topic. Specifically, that of brands, distilleries, bottlers, cask profiles etc. Fairly or not, these reputations are acquired through experience. A dram at a bar or party, a punt that failed or succeeded, word of mouth is strong.
Once achieved, reputations are hard to shake. A bad experience haunts.
I first spoke about Bowmore in my fourth submission for Dramface, a Living Souls trio that featured a 7-year matured in refill bourbon.
Nothing that I said was earth-shattering. Dramface has famously tackled this distillery’s faults and slammed how Bowmores corporate overlords choose to present their whisky.
My opinion summed up that of many within the community: official Bowmore bottlings live in the whisky “danger zone” of being both mediocre and premiumised. I also said that there’s so much soul in good Bowmore, even at lower age statements, that the mediocrity of their official bottlings is downright anger-inducing.
But as a died-in-the-wool “Bowmoremon,” I was happy to proselytize to another audience and spread the good news about this oldest (don’t say best) of Islay distilleries.
Ogilvie, the patron saint of the Colonials and someone I’m very happy to have gotten to know better over the past few months, had an opinion that was common among the denizens of the Whiskyverse: Bowmore is hot garbage (edited for Dramface readers).
To him, Bowmore’s reputation was as sullied as any distillery could be, and aside from ranking the St. George’s Baller higher than I would have, I respect his whisky assessments very much. It’s safe to say that he lives within the median of opinions when it comes to Beam Suntory’s other Islay Distillery not named Laphroaig.
His experience to me was summed up thus: “Bowmore tastes like a used and sweaty jock strap.” (Not edited for Dramface readers).
Reputation fairly earned.
But an opening for a redemption arc presented itself. He was willing to give it another try.
Luckily a few of the other colonials are also Bowmoremons and we’ve had many a heady discussion about the “Bowmore Paradox:” the stark contrast between independently bottled and single cask Bowmore (the spirit in its purest, most magical form) versus the neutered, cask-smothered, and second-rate swill poured into the trough of public consumption by the distillery.
As I discussed in my Tri Carragh piece, I’m an enthusiastic sample sharer. As soon as an opportunity presented itself, I arranged a sample swap among the American Colonials, mostly as a fun opportunity to distribute and discuss what we’ve all been dramming on lately. For Ogilvie I had ulterior motives - convert another lamb to the flock of Bowmoremonism.
I snuck quite a few Bowmore samples from the Archie vault (including the one under today’s discussion) into Ogilvie’s care package, a labor of love shipped across the country to the whisky desert of North Carolina.
It arrived just in time for our first official Colonials Zoom meet up. Needless to say, there was much discussion around Beam Suntory’s other Islay distillery not named Laphroaig.
Topic number one: Ogilvie the convert and the dram of Bowmore that changed his perspective forever.
Redemption achieved.
Last I heard from him there were several Independently Bottled Bowmore’s he was scouting on auction…
Review
Bowmore 10yo, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular range, 2024 Edition, matured in a refill bourbon cask, DL 18875, 48.4% ABV
USD$90 paid (£68) still some availability
“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Bowmore is proof that God doesn’t drink beer.” – Archie Dunlop
The pages of this website are here to declare: The Golden Age of Bowmore is nigh upon us!
Although independently bottled Bowmore’s have been available and not too difficult to find, they’re less common in indies than other Islay distillery casks and so tend to get snatched up quickly when they’re released.
Word on the street is that Beam Suntory, Bowmore’s corporate overlords and the villains behind murdering its spirit for official bottlings, have been as susceptible as any in the latest whisky downturn and have been on a bit of a selling spree, sending out large quantities of casks to eager independent bottlers.
While these actions will hopefully keep the distillery and their staff online for years to come, it also means the punters of the Whiskyverse will soon be awash in God’s own nectar: cask strength and higher-ABV Bowmore.
For those who track the latest releases obsessively like ol’ Archie, it’s already starting. Royal Mile Whiskies, Thompson Bros, Chorlton Whisky, Living Souls, Douglas Laing, and Single Cask Nation, among others, have all released well-priced and decently aged Bowmore bottlings in the past few months.
Prices have come down, quality has gone up, everything we botherers could hope for.
Score: 8/10
Something special.
TL;DR
A perfect Bowmore at a medium age statement
Nose
Selling my house to live in this glass. Superb. Light cookfire and gentle peat. Airy. That signature “Bowmore Funk” found in quality expressions I describe as rock salt, browned butter, burnt caramel popcorn, industrial oiliness, copper coins and raw vegetables.
Wrapped around that is lovely tropical fruitiness: lots of overripe melons with pineapple, mango, and banana. Vanilla. Slight metallic sharpness but nothing off-putting. Wheat bread. Minerality. Sea-breeze. Faint oaky hints. Water brings grassiness and mossy forest floor. Honeydew. Engine oil. Triscuit crackers and sweet cereal notes in the back.
Palate
Mmm. More of that light industrial funk but snuggled with a rich, earthy sweetness that’s well balanced. The smoke retreats slightly but is replaced by bigger fruits like Dole Mixed Parfait Cup, grilled pineapple chunks and ripe banana. Huge fruitiness here.
Greasy and oily mouthfeel. Deliciously coating. There’s also a silkiness that keeps bringing me back for more. Water brings sea-salt, grilled veggies, and Fruity Pebbles cereal.
A wonderful buttery, coastal finish. Baked asparagus. Salt and pepper. Cooking grease. Smokiness continues its withdrawal but patiently sits in the background. Malty, doughy, fruity funkiness sends us off. An explosion of flavors.
The Dregs
This bottle has special autobiographical significance for ol’ Archie, as is often the case for ones that make the cut to become verbose tomes for this website.
This “particular” Old Particular from Douglas Laing was my inaugural dabble into the world of “Good Bowmore.” It was the heavenly choirs singing, the scales falling from my eyes, the juice of salvation, my baptism into the flock of Bowmoremonism.
A few may roll their eyes at this and see this bottle for its measly 10-year age statement and 48.4% ABV and wonder how I could go to an 8 here, is it really Something Special?
As I’ve said before, I’m a slow sipper and despite sharing with as many folks as possible, the liquid levels tend to stay stubbornly high in my bottles despite my best efforts to spread whisky joy where possible. It’s rare I get a backup; it has to be special to receive that treatment. For this one I’m about to pull the trigger on bottle three. A rare feat indeed for Archie’s increasingly congested whisky closet.
Great juice steeped in sentiment? That’s an 8.
It has everything one could ask for in a good Bowmore in refill bourbon. Big tropical fruits smothered in sea-salt, subtle, earthy smokiness and pleasant funk and vegetal notes. For just $90, well worth the punt. Good Bowmore stands apart. It’s truly 1 of 1 in the world of whisky.
Maybe not a religious experience for everyone, but this bottle got me on the straight and narrow – it’s Bowmore redemption in a glass.
If Suntory ever hoped to fix the reputation of the abuse they’ve laid upon this magical Islay spirit, they could take a look at what Douglas Laing has done here and work their way back to atonement.
Ogilvie is waiting.
Score: 8/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. AD
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At the point of this article’s publication, Bowmore currently sits in position #35 in the Dramface Top 40.
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