Bowmore is doubling down on its sherry-styled Scotch with two new expressions aged and/or finished in Oloroso.
The Islay distillery is riding a sherry high this year after its 21 Year Old Sherry Oak expression won World’s Best Single Malt Whisky at the World Whiskies Awards. That whisky is aged in a mixture of ex-bourbon and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, and bottled at 46.7% ABV.
The Captivo Collection, a limited series with labels designed by hipster design practice Snarkitecture, is cut from the same cloth. It consists of two expressions — Oak Voyage and Sherry Cask Pursuit — both bottled at 20 years old and both fully finished in Oloroso sherry-seasoned casks.
Which raises an obvious question, given that both are a year younger than the award-winner and around $50 (£35) dearer.
“Once we’re talking about whiskies of this maturity, age isn’t a hierarchy of quality,” says Dr. Calum Fraser, master blender for Scotch and Irish whiskey at Suntory Global Spirits. “The value is in the specificity of the whisky, from the cask selection and maturation journey to the limited nature of the release.”
Oak Voyage is aged in ex-bourbon casks before a full finish in American oak Oloroso sherry butts. Bottled at 50.8% ABV, it’s a richly flavored single malt offering candied orange, honey, and a trademark wisp of oak and smoke. It is classic Bowmore, offering the best of sweet Islay peat, tropical bourbon flavors, and the viscosity of Oloroso sherry.
Those butts are, Fraser believes, a first for the distillery: an oak species that Bowmore has not previously seasoned with sherry before aging. “American oak tends to have a tighter grain and can contribute sweeter characteristics — vanilla, coconut, caramel and softer oak notes,” he says.
Sherry Cask Pursuit combines Spanish oak Oloroso sherry and American oak ex-bourbon casks, with an Oloroso sherry hogshead finish. It maintains Bowmore’s essential tropical fruit notes, but has an added hit of spice: oak, black pepper, and sweet peat. It’s bottled at 51.8% ABV and is a travel retail exclusive, although you can get one online if you sign up to Bowmore’s members’ club.
The spice is the Spanish oak talking. “Spanish oak tends to bring greater levels of tannin, with more pronounced spice, dried fruit and structural oak character,” Fraser says. “We’re not simply extracting flavor from the wood; there is a continual interaction between spirit, oak, the compounds contributed by the previous seasoning wine, oxygen and time.”
Neither ABV is an accident. Both expressions are natural color and non-chill filtered, and Fraser says the strengths were arrived at by tasting rather than decided in advance. “Rather than starting with a predetermined bottling strength, we let the whisky tell us where it performs at its best,” he says. “Once we’ve established a cask-strength recipe, we assess the whisky at different strengths, working in increments as small as 0.1% ABV.”
Snarkitecture co-founder Alex Mustonen has designed very nice bottles for both releases, including a squiggle that looks somewhat like a cut oak tree trunk from above. Unless you’re an established follower of the New York architecture house, it’ll do little else to add to the liquid’s appeal.
Bowmore Captivo Collection Oak Voyage is priced at $425 (£312). Bowmore Captivo Collection Sherry Cask Pursuit is $440 (£320). Both are available from bowmore.com.
