Bowmore 1996 Coastal Confectione Wemyss Malts 54.7% 1996

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (90)

Bowmore 1996/2015 'Coastal Confection' (54.7%, Wemyss Malts, hogshead, 269 bottles) Five starsLet's be careful, these wee bottles - often excellent - are usually released at 46% vol., but this baby's at cask strength. Tricky tricky! Colour: white wine. Nose: fresh butter, flints, lemon syrup, brine, seawater, damp hessian, beach sand on Islay after the rain - right, beach sand on Islay - and wet old tweed jacket. This would deserve a whole page in Country Life. With water: oh smoked porridge and seaweed! Raw wool! Mouth (neat): how very excellent! Some crystalline lemony peat, pure, amazingly refreshing... Should we talk wine again, I'd say one of the best dry Jurançons. I totally love this style (while wondering why the owners don't quite have them - too busy with wood, perhaps?) With water: gets dry and more austere, which I find fantastic. But lemon always, brine always, and kippers always. Not the kippers of the quaich, though. Finish: pretty long, ultra-lemony, and salty. Around capers, gherkins, and olives. Comments: great vintages, great Bowmores. Very stylish.