Bowmore Surf (Screen Printed Label) / 43% / 1.0l

Bowmore Surf debuted at the turn of the century and was intended for exclusive distribution through the Travel Retail chain for over a decade.

It was blended from first and second fill bourbon barrels and bottled without an age statement (the distillery claimed it was aged for an average of eight years). Surf was an alternative version of the widely available Bowmore Legend, which was considered a must-have entry into the distillery’s wide range at the time. The bottle presented here is from the end of last year, in our opinion, when Bowmore whisky was presented in bottles with prints and without paper labels. The whisky’s alcohol content is 43%, in later editions it was reduced to 40%.

Nose : peat smoke, sea breeze, seaweed salad, a drop of tar, vanilla, honey, lemons, quince jelly, notes of tobacco and hay.

Palate : smoky, slightly mineral, smoked fish, lemons, grapefruit, breakfast cereals, vanilla, salted caramel, lemongrass and a hint of oak.

Finish : quite long, with notes of peat smoke, iodine, smoked fish, sea salt, vanilla, lemon peel and a pinch of pepper.