Bowmore 1968 32 Years Old Anniversary Edition 45.5% 1968

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (91)

Colour: dark straw.

Nose: starts on heavy tangerine, grapefruits, ripe melon. Then you have a desert with some vanilla ice cream and all sorts of fruits, mainly freshly cut pears and apples. Great notes of old rum and banana flambéed. Fantastic! Goes on with lots of passion fruit. Whiffs of smoke… It then goes back to vanilla and fruits and doesn’t change anymore, but the fruity burst right at first nosing is stupendous.

Mouth: big bold citrus (grapefruit, lemon) and passion fruit. Goes on with a ‘nice’ bitterness: grape seeds, pineapple, white pepper. Not overly complex but very big.

The finish is long, but slightly bitter. In short, a fabulous nose and a good palate.

Words of Whisky (94)

Whiskynotes: Nose: very aromatic and an avalanche of fruits. You name it, it’s there. At first: delicious cavaillon (orange melon) and tangerine, but these notes fade rather quickly. Then grapefruit and apple. Excellent vanilla pudding. Back to the tropical fruit. More candy-like now: mango and passion fruit sweets. Pineapple too, again with a hint of vanilla and a bit of mint. This is like an exquisite ice cream with fresh tropical fruits. Strangely enough, hardly any Islay notes. Well, there’s something slightly maritime and smokey, but it’s hard to notice and gone before you know it. Absolutely wonderful.

Mouth: very big with the same fruits: passion fruit, grapefruit and tangerine. Some pear and lemon. A bit of peat now and more noticeable smoke, but still far from the current Islay style. A faint hint of coffee. Good balance between sweet and bitter fruit notes. Slightly peppered as well, but overall refined.

Finish: beautiful. The tangerine and passion fruit fade slowly. In the end only the bitter grapefruit notes remain.

Wow, incredible whisky and the best fruit juice I’ve ever had! The most expensive fruit juice as well. Not for Islay fans though, because it doesn’t have the Bowmore profile we are used to from recent bottlings.