Review #286: Bowmore 21 OB 1990s

Islay - 21 - Natural Color?  - Chill-Filtered? - £500 at auction - 40% 

Boringowmore is an Islay distillery that sits in the middle of the island of Islay.  This particular dram comes from the 70s.  So this should put it somewhere between the legendary 60s and the horsepiss from the 80s.  

Color - Tawny

Nose -  Candied oranges, figs, leather, menthol, raisins, beeswax, rope, dried tea - Not really getting peat but I am getting funk

Palate -  Fresh apples, oranges, raisins, leathers, honey due, mushrooms, factory smell - really fruity combined with these earth and like a chemical peat taste - not iodine like frog but fuel/coalish
Finish - Medium Long - Peaches, apricots, lemon drops, diesel fuel, shoe polish - starts out all fruit on the finish and then slowly fades to the chemical peat

Overall - 6 - This was the best Bowmore I have ever had.  There was just tons of fruit on this guy.  Then the peat came in, and it was a strange peat.  It was chemically/mining like peat that I am not familiar with.  Not medicinal, not smokey, but how I would picture a tank proving ground smelling like.  Would I buy a bottle?  At the current auction price of 500 quid, it is a hard pass.  However, if available and at a retail price it would be worth picking up.  

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Rating system is price influenced as it is based on my shopping decisions when buying a bottle.

10 Best in Show

9 Great Dram for Special Occasions

8 Worthy of consistent spot in my collection

7 Worth picking up a bottle if in the mood

6 I would buy a bottle if it went on sale
5.5 I enjoyed it but will never be priced at where I would buy a bottle

5 I would drink it happily if offered

4 I would drink it if offered on the rocks

3 Maybe some soda will make this potable

2 I'll Pass

1 Toilet cleaner

Inclusive Ratings

Overall 6.2

Standard Deviation 0.96

Skew 0.51

Kurtosis -0.28