Bowmore 21-year-old Golf Decanter No.1 Turnberry / 43% / 0.75l

In the mid-1980s, Bowmore Distillery launched its Famous Golf Courses of Scotland series, presented in elegant crystal decanters by Glencairn.

Golf is as popular in its native Scotland as whisky, and at the time of its release Jim McEwan’s career at Bowmore Distillery was in full swing, and his passion for the sport was well-known. We’re not sure how many golf courses have been commemorated with crystal decanters, but here’s the first release from 1986, featuring the ninth hole of the famous Turnberry Golf Course. The whisky for this release was distilled in the 1960s (which is considered by many to be the period from which Bowmore’s unique editions, including the legendary Black Bowmore, come) and aged in European and American oak barrels for at least 21 years. The same whisky is said to have filled the decanters of the second release, St. Andrews Golf Course.

Unfortunately, we did not have a chance to taste this whisky, apparently it is Bowmore at the highest stage of evolution, where the complexity of aromas and flavours cannot be described in the dictionary, and the combination of tropical fruits, Cuban cigar, chocolate, coffee, peat smoke and several dozen other elements gives the impression that extraterrestrial forces were involved in the production of this nectar.