Many things are said to be timeless: watches, cars, the overpowering scent you used to bathe yourself in at 18. But how many of them really are? To create something truly timeless requires patience and an unwavering belief in tradition, quality and craftsmanship.
Established in 1779, Bowmore embodies all of these qualities in its masterfully complex whiskies. The oldest licensed distillery on Islay, and the most renowned, it has been refining its craft for over 240 years. In that time, very little has changed by way of process. Bowmore continues to favour handcrafted ancestral techniques — slower and more demanding than the modern way, but crucial for unlocking a deeper, fuller flavour. It’s for this reason that Bowmore ranks among the most coveted of whiskies, from its iconic 15 Year Old to the Black Bowmore 1964, the most collected Islay malt in the world.
The distillery stands proudly on the shores of Loch Indaal, close to the River Laggan. This unique geography was no doubt a huge draw for Bowmore’s founder, the local merchant David Simpson, when he purchased the land in 1776: the mystical Hebridean air; the constant supply of fresh water; and the wild, bountiful landscapes providing — as they do to this day — a stream of barley.
The process of distilling begins by hand. First, raw barley is steeped in fresh water for 27 hours, after which the soaked grains are spread across wide stone floors to air-dry. After 24 hours the careful process of turning begins. For six to seven days the barley is judiciously aerated night and day, once every four hours, using large wooden shovels. This begins to unlock the sugars that will eventually form the whisky. While most distilleries malt their barley mechanically, Bowmore believes a traditional approach is best.
Once ready, the malt is transferred to a kiln where it is gently dried. For the first 18 hours peat is added to the furnace. This organic material, roughly the colour and texture of a dense chocolate cake, is formed over thousands of years from compressed grass, heather and moss. When burned, it creates the subtly smoked flavour that defines a Bowmore single malt, sending grey plumes billowing from the pagoda chimney. After this, the malt is dried for a further 42 hours at up to 60°C using hot air from the distillery’s innovative waste heat recovery system, which also heats the local community swimming pool.
From the kiln, the dried barley is precisely milled into a fine grist. Bowmore’s mill was commissioned in the 1960s and has rarely, if ever, stopped since. Older still are the copper kettles that heat the mash tun — a large bath in which the barley grist steeps (or mashes) in warm water, creating a rich, dark liquid with a heady aroma. This liquid is drained, and the barley is mashed twice more at incrementally higher temperatures. At the end of this process, these dark, sugary liquids are combined to create what’s known as a wort, while the spent grains become cattle feed.
Yeast is added to the wort in the distillery’s Tun Room, where it froths and ferments for two days in giant vessels known as washbacks. The resulting wash is about eight per cent ABV (alcohol by volume) and smells like a malty beer — but this is far from the end product. After being distilled twice, by evaporating and condensing the wash into a clear spirit, the lengthiest, and arguably most important stage begins. Poured into carefully sourced casks, the spirit matures for a minimum of nine years to finally become Bowmore whisky.
The 15 Year Old is double matured, first in American oak bourbon barrels, which imbue a sweet vanilla flavour. After the first 12 years, the whisky then rests for a final three in Spanish Oloroso casks, giving it a rich amber hue and warm finish. The upper end of Bowmore’s core range is the rarefied 18 Year Old, which is only bottled after almost two decades in oak bourbon casks, creating a rich blend of ripe fruit, dark chocolate and smoke. The 25 Year Old receives a similar treatment, with the additional time bestowing an intense sherry aroma, a sweet, nutty flavour and an incredibly complex finish. The oldest Islay single malt ever released was distilled by Bowmore in 1957 and bottled 54 years later in 2011. Only 12 bottles were ever produced.
Another stunning Bowmore creation comes from their partnership with iconic luxury car brand Aston Martin. The two worked in tandem to create the Black Bowmore DB5 1964, a highly limited edition single malt (only 25 bottles were made, priced at £50,000) that is housed in a handcrafted bottle encased in a genuine Aston Martin DB5 piston. This rare whisky pays homage to a date significant to both icons, as 1964 was the year Black Bowmore was first conceived thanks to a new boiler which saw coal fires replaced with steam, producing an evolved single malt that boasted potent flavours of mango, passion fruit and acacia honey. It was also the year Sean Connery's James Bond drove the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger, cementing the car's legendary status.
All of this encapsulates what Bowmore stands for: a timelessness that can only be achieved by countless hours of hard work, refinement and a single-minded fervour for whisky-making. Now that’s something worth the wait.
Experience 240 years of Bowmore's illustrious heritage and indulge your senses
