Home Tasting: Bowmore 1994 14 Year Old BBR Retro Label for La Maison du Whisky (Second Time)

The transformation after bottling is astonishing, making this my second home tasting post. Bowmore BOWMORE 1994-2008 14yo BBR retro label for La Maison du Whisky #1685 54.5% Opened 1 year and a half ago This time, there's some context. This bottle was bottled in 2008 and had a tasting note published in March 2011. It was a highly praised bottle even at launch. Given its affordable price (around ¥8,000) and delicious sherry character, I've purchased several bottles. The previous bottle was the second one opened at home, and this is the third. While I freely drank the first two bottles, for the third one, I took my time to savor it slowly after opening. Interestingly, the third bottle initially tasted very similar to the previous tasting notes. However, after 1 year and a half of being open with only 1/5 remaining, I was amazed by its remarkable aroma transformation. Unlike the changes during bottling that often result in loss of body, this bottle showed a clear improvement with each tasting. The rating has significantly changed, and I truly felt the bottle's true power. Hence, this is an exception where I decided to document a second tasting note. Aroma: Strongly expanding old sherry, faint dried shiitake mushrooms, berry jam, dry orange, concentrated black tea, a powerful peat with iodine, seaweed-like sea moss, BBQ meat, coffee, caramel sauce, clove, leather, rich earthy humus, burnt barley, tropical fruits like pineapple emerging from the depths over time. Very complex and rich. Flavor: Smooth mouthfeel with gradually building stimulation, ripe apricot, berry jam, tropical flavors like mango and pineapple emerging from the depths, burnt barley, leather, humus, seaweed-like notes, powerful peat with iodine and smoked flavors, umami from seafood stock, rich jammy sweetness balanced by pleasant tannins, thick body with complex and very rich flavors. Aftertaste: Strong, complex fruity and peaty notes with added umami that lingers for a long time. Overall Evaluation: At this point alone, it's an exceptional bottle with old sherry nuances, powerful peat, and a harmonious tropical character typical of Bowmore. [Very Good/Excellent] This BBR bottling for La Maison du Whisky in 2008 is Bowmore 1994, 14 years old with a retro label. As mentioned earlier, this is the third bottle opened at home, savored over 1 year and a half. As noted in my previous article, while it had some off-flavors that improved quickly after uncorking, during this tasting the smoky notes clearly disappeared. The dried shiitake mushroom nuance is now a positive old-world character for me. The sherry character has fully integrated, and with its mellowed assertiveness, the tropical mango-like Bowmore character became more apparent in both aroma and flavor. Interestingly, after 1 year and a half with only about 1/5 remaining, I was so moved that I drank all of it during this tasting. (laughs) Recently, through a fortunate encounter, I had the chance to drink the legendary Cambelltown Loch bottling of Bowmore 1993, which I also rate as [Excellent] and have decided to drink before dying. While this BBR's Maison 1994 doesn't reach the same level of tropical fruit intensity, its performance as a combination of sherry base with iodine-rich peat and Bowmore's tropical character makes it feel closer to the Cambelltown bottling than any other 1993 Bowmore I've tried. Out of the approximately 400 bottles I've opened at home, this is the first time I've been so moved by post-opening changes that it significantly altered my rating. That makes me curious about what further transformations the remaining bottles will undergo through bottle aging, and how other 90s Bowmores might change. I'm excited for the future, feeling the joy of malt once again, which makes me very happy. #Bowmore (BOWMORE) #Thoughts