Bowmore 1964 Black Bowmore Second Edition Bottled 1994

Bowmore

One of Islay’s most beloved distilleries, Bowmore sits in the heart of the town with the same name. A busy location by comparison to the other Islay distilleries, Bowmore currently operates at maximum capacity and runs 7 days a week. William Grigor & Sons sold Bowmore in 1963 to Stanley Morrison, who would then found the Morrison Bowmore Distillers company. After a number of years of successful distillation, the Japanese company Suntory would purchase a 35% stake in Morrison Bowmore in 1989. This era is of note as in 1981 a very special bottling was done exclusively for the Gillies club in Australia. A 1964 distilled expression of Bowmore from a sherry butt so incredibly dark that the club dubbed it the “Black Bowmore”. A second 1964 was bottled four years later, just as dark and just as impressive. It wasn’t until 1993 that Bowmore would themselves release the first edition of their own Black Bowmore, a bottling so well rated and so legendary that the whisky has become the stuff of legends. 
 
1994 would see Suntory purchase the remaining stock of Morrison Bowmore Distillers and take full control of the company. From there the new owners would begin bottling a wide range of releases, with a strong focus on vintage dates expressions. As noted prior, Bowmore utilises a large amount of sherry matured spirit as well as maturation in ex-bourbon casks. However it is these large sherry butt sourced bottlings that rocketed the brand to success, with the last 30 years seeing the remaining Black Bowmores bottled and completed. The brand saw a redesign in 2007, slimming down their bottle design and launching a number of well aged expressions in limited edition packaging.