Sometimes whiskies just stand out for their branding. Like this series by Bowmore, with some kind of an Aston Martin tie in, and luxurious screen printed bottles…

I didn’t really dive into it, as to why this tie in exists, but apart from being ‘bottled for Aston Martin’ I don’t really care either. Also, is it really bottled for Aston Martin as it is/was available almost everywhere? Should it not be more rare, like Aston Martin itself?

Anyway, this one has almost 200 ratings on Whiskybase and averages out slightly over 90 points. That’s ridiculously high, so when I got a sample of this I was very curious about the whisky. I tried getting a bottle at the original price, but that was rather impossible. Everyone was instantly sold out, and when they said they had it, they either repriced when I asked for more info, or it turned out that their online stock keeping was lagging behind reality.

Sniff:
A sensible, gentle amount of peat, with quite a lot of sherry. Rather leathery, with an almond like bitterness. A bit of a ‘moldy plums’ aroma too, which I’m not the biggest fan of.

Sip:
Dry and quite hot for the ABV, with more peppery heat than I expected. An oaky dryness with almonds, plums, dates and a whiff of briny smoke. Slightly less funky than the nose, but still a bit out of whack. A bit of chocolate, but also a bit moldy.

Swallow:
The finish is strangely hot again, with peppers and dry oak. Old dried fruit, plums and dates, but again, that thickly, cloying flavor that I can only relate too rotten or moldy fruit.

It turns out to be a rather love-it-or-hate-it whisky. A LOT of people love it, but I’ve heard some folks (some that I really appreciate for their palate as well as their personality) that it’s just not that good.

I’m with the latter group. It’s fairly straight forward on the sherry cask, not much interesting stuff is happening. That is already not great. But the few things that are happening are not the style of sherry I thoroughly enjoy. Too sweet, too much fruit and not enough depth. A very modern approach of sherry matured Bowmore that just doesn’t work well for me.

It was also part of the Blind Tasting Competition, but I’ve not tried that sample yet due to having a cold. I might reconsider, but my first impression wasn’t good.

80/100

Available in the secondary market for about € 600 and over.