Bowmore 12

MY very first job was working in the studio of an advertising agency, well before new fangled technology such as digital cameras and the Internet. In fact, if memory serves, there wasn’t even a computer on our floor. We had to slave away with a giant machine called a Repromaster to resize images and text, create copy using Letraset and all our artwork was created using bromides and Spray Mount. Happy days.
    Why am I prattling on about life in an advertising agency in the late Eighties? Well, one of the company’s clients was Bowmore and we were responsible for creating their newspaper ads and corporate ID. Back then, as a fresh-faced youth with long, flowing locks, I had no idea about whisky and therefore they were nothing more than just another client. Only in recent years have I tasted their products and come to appreciate them as something more than a collection of text and images pasted to an A3 piece of white board propped up in a darkroom in Glasgow.
    Recently, I tried several drams of the Bowmore 12 and thoroughly enjoyed them, so here’s what I thought of this Islay malt and rest assured, that’s the end of the advertising chatter!
    On the nose there's stewed fruit, prunes, tangerines, bananas, a hint of flat Irn-Bru, fruit Polos, eucalyptus and it also carries a coastal tang. On the palate there's sweet orange juice, honey, warming spices and slight smoke. The finish is full of salt, honey, orange, vanilla and drying wood, while a lovely smoky note lingers in the background.
    If your thinking about diving into Islay malts but are unsure with all the talk about dark peat and heavy smoke, then I would definitely start with this. It has that unmistakable Islay character, is bottled at 40% and is far more subtle than some of the peat monsters found elsewhere on the island.