Review #493 - Bowmore 12 Year Re-Review
Today, we're revisiting an Islay single malt staple: the 12 Year Old from Bowmore, the oldest distillery on the island. Over the past year, we've tried it several times in blind tastings, and we figured we would compile the results and compare to our previous thoughts.
The official bottlings from Bowmore are often a bit lackluster - low bottling strength, a good dose of caramel color, and almost certain chill filtration. Despite that, the distillate coming from this distillery is very well regarded - it just has a lot of obstacles to get past in order to show that character.
This 12 Year entry level version is bottled at the minimum 40% ABV, and on their website, they explain that the aging process consists of both ex-bourbon casks and Oloroso sherry casks, so we could see both baking spices and some fruit notes. There's also a mixture of American oak and European oak in use - that should add a nice balance of sweetness and spice, along with the usual Islay peat.
Bowmore 12 Year
Scotland/Islay - Single Malt
Current Locally Available Price: USD 68 (2025)
Age Statement: 12 Years
Strength: 40% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-bourbon casks and European oak Oloroso sherry casks
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 6 months; bottles at 100% (blind tasting), 60% (blind tasting), and 30% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: The peat smoke is relatively mild - this focuses on funky, grain-forward malt, some damp vegetal notes, and a little bit of floral or herbal character. Soft vanilla extract and orange add sweetness, and we get a hint of lime sherbet; later, hints of gourds and a mild peppercorn scent arrive.
Palate: A medium-thin mouthfeel; an interesting mix of herbs, fruits, and smoke. That peat is still a bit mild; this is quite minty, almost menthol, and there's a mixture of oranges and tropical stone fruit - mango, or other yellow fruit. Some malty grain returns.
Finish: Quite soft - mild peat, malt. It's now very mellow, and the interesting mixture of flavors continues: peaches, mango, lavender, chili spice, and vanilla. In the aftertaste, we get orange seeds; it's a medium length finish.
Final Note: There is definitely an interesting combination of flavors here - the variety of sweet fruit, mild smoke, and floral or vegetal flavors kept us intrigued each tasting. The mouthfeel, on the other hand, is quite a letdown, as is the general density of flavors - we really had to dig in to find all of that complexity. This single malt actually does a great job of hinting at how interesting the distillate has the potential to be, before dashing our hopes with the weak bottling stats.
Value isn't great - in our area, this is slightly above average in terms of pricing for an entry level 12 year single malt, but the flavor is lagging behind competitors, many of whom have moved on to 46%+ bottling strength and natural presentation.
Our Average Rating: 5.0 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 4.91
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other Bowmore reviews:
Review #364 - SMWS 3.344 'Maritime Meandering' - Bowmore 18 Year
