Bowmore 1957 / 1990 Moon Import 40% vs Bowmore Jug 1955 / 1974 ‘Specially bottled for 12th September 1974’ ceramic decanter
Bowmore 1957 / 1990 Moon Import 40%
Any doubts can be put to rest, this is one of the finest Bowmores anyone can be fortunate enough to try, nevermind the low abv, which it shrugs off with a virility like Hugh Hefner shrugs off age. There’s no escaping the bounty of fruit in all its pristine purity – lucidly and juicily ripe in the glass. Soul-touchingly joyous. This is the finest passionfruit, guava and blackcurrant too I think, absolutely luscious. Its a nose that isn’t enormously complex but makes up in sheer pleasure and clarity. The structure and mouthfeel remain supple and faultlessly despite the strength. I find whispers of coastal air, caper brine and salted rocks. Phenolic aspects like cold firepits, preserved lemon, and crumbly dried peat full of roots and hints of camphor permeate the palate. But primarily it’s a fruit led Bowmore, with these salty and phenolic aspects playing second fiddle to the glory of the fruit. 93 pts.
Bowmore Jug 1955 / 1974 ‘Specially bottled for 12th September 1974’ ceramic decanter
I approach this with trepidation. While this will be the second time I am putting down written notes for this, it is the first time it goes head to head against another famous 50s Bowmore. In my mind the Jug held a clear edge against the Moon Import, and the astounding depth of this nose vindicates that brave claim. It simply beggars belief that Bowmore ever made such a whisky in its distinguished liquid history, but that it did, and showed how it is to scale the sheer face of impossibility and what it is to revel for one instant the span of human prodigy coalesced in a glass, the best whisky ever made by man.
But we need notes, so I observe that like the Moon Import, this style of Bowmore is firstly a fruit driven one, but where the Moon frolicked in the innocence of its immaculate fruit, the Jug is thoroughly streaked through with a legion of sublime heres and theres like barky medicinal tea, phenolic resins, sooty bags of coal, blazing minerals and rock salt. Pine tar, coal ash and sea spray sit comfortably across glistening passionfruit, mango and guava on the palate, where we also find plenty of clean camphor, old cedar, and polished brass implements. Earthy and empyrean in parts, an exquisite experience. 95 pts.
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