Here is the ninth edition of our annual “Single Cask Bottlings” this time a great single cask from that famous Islay distillery, Bowmore.
Cask Number 85163 was distilled at Bowmore Distillery on Islay on 4th October 1982 and held in their bonded warehouses until July 2009 when it was specifically selected from several cask samples at a nosing and tasting by Duncan Elphick, Tatsuya Minagawa, Rachel Richard and, of course, Mark Watt, at Duncan Taylor & Company’s warehouses in Huntly.
When bottled on 10th August 2009 at its natural cask strength of 49.4% alc/vol, the Angels gave us only 186 bottles (700ml). I hope they let Michael sample it!
As good friends of The Highlander Inn will know, our good friend Michael Jackson wrote the tasting notes on the back label for us for 7 years, until St. Peter ‘called him through the pearly gates’ in August 2007.
From 2008 onwards, we decided to invite a different person each year to write the tasting notes for us. The criteria are that they must have a great reputation in the “whisky world”, and have been Michael’s true friends. Last year, Hideo Yamaoka, Japan’s foremost Malt Scotch Whisky “otaku” and the translator of Michael’s books into Japanese wrote the notes.
This year, John Hansell, (left) agreed to write his comments for us.
John Hansell is one of the foremost drinks writers in the United States. He is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal and has appeared in USA Today, The New York Times, Smart Money, Business Week, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Stuff, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, Food & Wine, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, and numerous other publications.
He is the creator, Publisher, and Editor of “Malt Advocate”, the USA’s leading magazine for the whisky enthusiast
In 1997 he created WhiskyFest, the America’s largest independent festival featuring the world’s greatest whiskies and the people who make them with annual events in New York, Chicago and San Fransisco.
Included with each bottle is a Certificate of Ownership, like the one on the left, that can be framed and hung on your study / office / drawing room wall.
As in all previous years, each label was individually applied to the bottles and hand numbered by Duncan Elphick ~ none of this automatic labeling & numbering for us!!