New Release: Bowmore 11 Year Old Official Islay Festival 2017 Edition, 53.8% ABV

A well-integrated Bowmore from recent years, matured in casks. Bowmore BOWMORE 11yo OB THE FEIS ILE COLLECTION 2017 53.8% SHERRY & WINE CASKS The aroma features good sherry, fresh grape juice, diluted caramel, young malt, seawind, and a pleasant peat. On the palate, it offers good sherry with sweet and tart grape juice notes, a faint paper-like texture and cereal, a solid peat presence, and a lingering fruity finish. [Good/Very Good] This Bowmore 11 Year Old was bottled for this year's Islay Festival. Calculating backward, it was distilled around 2006 and matured in sherry and wine casks. The wine casks might be from the same range as Château Lagrange. A significant number of bottles were released. As expected for a Bowmore matured in sherry and wine casks, the tropical notes reminiscent of passion fruit were replaced by grape juice-like characteristics, but the fruity profile remained appealing. While I often find post-2000 Bowmores to have a paper-like texture that I dislike, this one was masked by the cask influence. The balance of sweetness and tartness is well executed, with a distinct Islay peat character, resulting in a surprisingly delicious whisky. Interestingly, according to the back label, this release was matured in the First Warehouse. This warehouse, where waves crash and the level is lower than sea level, has produced legendary casks like 'Black Bowmore.' Though it's been famous for a long time, recent releases such as the 'Vault Edition No.1' have been coming out in succession, marking a significant turnaround. I remember it wasn't such a large warehouse, but it must have matured many premium casks. If all the casks were matured entirely in this warehouse, that would be impressive. While it's a bit disappointing if only the last casks were from there, as long as it tastes good, that's what matters. #Bowmore (BOWMORE)