Bowmore Black, White & Gold: Iconic Islay Whisky Trilogy

If this trilogy were to be compared to what films could it be safely compared to star wars! Have you ever heard of this one of a kind and most limited edition from the Bowmore Distillery?

Bowmore

Bowmore is one of the oldest distilleries on Islay and the first on the island to receive a license. Officially founded in 1779 by local merchant David Simpson, it is believed illegal distilling had been taking place on the same site for years. The distillery has had many owners over the years, from Stanley Morrison in the mid-1960s to its purchase by Beam Suntory in 1994.

Bowmore is one of the few Scottish whisky distilleries that still operates its own malthouses. Due to the limited capacity of these traditional malting floors (there are three at Bowmore) and the unprecedented scale of whisky production, the malt produced in-house never meets even half of the distillery's needs; some malt must be imported from specialized malt houses.

The whisky produced at Bowmore matures in two traditional dunnage warehouses and one slightly more modern one, where casks are stored on multiple levels. Perhaps the most famous building on the distillery grounds is the oldest warehouse, located right on the seafront, known as No. 1 Vaults, a building dating back to the 18th century, is the oldest whisky maturation warehouse in Scotland. It was here, on a threshing floor below sea level, that the most valuable and legendary whiskies, most notably Black Bowmore, matured. A portion of the distillate leaves the island in tanks and matures in oak casks in the company's warehouses on the mainland.

For years, the distillery has bottled some of the most coveted single malts in the world, including the widely acclaimed White, Black, and Gold Bowmore editions. Across the entire range, it's characterized by a rich, smoky character with notes of tropical fruit and sea breezes.

So: Black, white, and gold!

All three come from casks first filled in 1964, and their names and color reflect the type of cask used.

The Black spent 42 years in the finest Oloroso sherry casks, while the White was matured for 43 years in bourbon casks, making it the polar opposite of the Black in name, color, and flavor.

The final release in the series, Bowmore Gold, met the two previous whiskies in the middle, spending 44 years in a combination of Oloroso and bourbon casks. Fewer than 830 of each were released.

Black Bowmore is not only one of the most collectible whiskies of all time, but also a spirit that set the highest standard for sherry-aged whiskies.

In 1963, Stanley P. Morrison, a whisky broker, purchased the Bowmore distillery from the Grigor family. He renovated it, installed an additional pair of stills, and switched from coal to gas. Morrison acquired the highest-quality sherry casks from producer William & Humbert and filled them with the distillate that had drained from the stills on November 5, 1964.

These were placed in the legendary stone warehouse, Vault No. 1, located below sea level. Andthus was born Black Bowmore, a whisky whose name refers to the almost black color extracted from these casks. The first edition of Black Bowmore was released in 1993 at a then-astronomical price of... £80 (eighty).

The fourth release presented here was released in 2007 as part of a trilogy, alongside Bowmore White (2008) and Gold (2009). The whisky was aged from five Oloroso sherry casks and bottled at 40.5% abv.

List of Black Bowmore releases:

1993 – 29 years old, 2,000 bottles; 1994 – 30 years old, 2,000 bottles; 1995 – 31 years old, 1,812 bottles; 2007 – 42 years old, 827 bottles; 2014 – 50 years old, 159 bottles.

White Bowmore isn't as legendary as the Black Bowmore, but it is equally unique and significantly rarer. The most famous whisky from the 1964 vintage is arguably the Black Bowmore, aged in Oloroso sherry casks. It was released for the fourth time in 2007, this time as the precursor to a trilogy whose second chapter is the White Bowmore presented here.

The whisky for this vintage came from six bourbon casks filled in 1964 and aged for 43 years in the legendary No. 1 Vaults, a stone warehouse partially below sea level.

The whisky was bottled at 42.8% abv in 2008, and 732 bottles were released.

And of course, the final edition of the triptych, Gold Bowmore, was released in 2009, made from three bourbon casks a and numbered 701 bottles.

While Black Bowmore had five editions, White and Gold had only one.! Have you seen or had the opportunity to try this distillery masterpiece?