Bowmore - Lovers Transformed
The oldest distillery on the island of Islay, Bowmore, has just announced the release of a special set of whiskies collectively called Lovers Transformed.
Lovers Transformed is a mini-series, consisting of two editions:
Bowmore 23yo, 50.9% vol., whisky finished in refill, Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry seasoned casks, in European oak. Edition limited to 8,000 bottles.
Bowmore 36yo, 45.2% vol., whisky subjected to finish in first-fill barrique barrels of Pinot Noir wine. Only 700 bottles of this edition were prepared.
The Lovers Transformed series is the third collaboration between the Bowmore distillery and Glasgow-based graphic artist Vincent Deighan, better known as Frank Quitely. He has previously prepared packaging artwork for the No Corners to Hide and The Changeling series. Both the new series and the previous two were inspired by myths and legends associated with the island of Islay. Frank Quitely should be familiar to fans of Marvel and DC Comics.
Lovers Transformed is a reference to the legend of the daughter of a Pictish king from the east and her love for a captured and imprisoned Celtic warrior from the west. While trying to escape from the Scottish mainland to the island of Islay, the lovers hit a powerful storm that sank their boat. The next day she was found washed ashore on Islay, but her passengers disappeared without a trace. Instead, a pair of white gulls appeared in the sky, torn between east and west, unable to decide where to nest.
Like previous collaborations with Frank Quitely, Lovers Transformed will be available at Global Travel Retail. Their retail prices are set at $470 and $4,000.
Bowmore is a distillery located on Islay, an island famous for its peaty, smoky whiskies. It is located in the village of the same name, serving as a kind of capital of the island. Founded in 1779, Bowmore is the island's oldest whisky factory still in operation today, and the whisky it produces is based on malt smoked to a level of 25-30 ppm, slightly less than Islay's most famous "peaty monsters", the likes of Laphroaig, Ardbeg, and Lagavulin. For this reason, it is sometimes underestimated by proponents of strong peaty sensations. It is one of the few distilleries in Scotland that have retained traditional floor maltings and independently malt barley for their own production. However, this malting plant is only able to meet part of the demand, making it necessary to source malt from external suppliers. For the whisky makers on Islay, it will primarily be the huge industrial maltings at Port Ellen, owned by Diageo. When the decision was made in 1983 to close the Port Ellen distillery, local whiskey producers reached an agreement that in order to prevent rising unemployment on the island, they would all source their malt specifically from Port Ellen.
The current offerings of the House of Whisky Online include a wide selection of whiskies from the Bowmore distillery. We invite you to visit again.
[13.09.2023 / photo: Bowmore]