Thompson Bros Bowmore 21yo cask 28 (2004, 25th Anniversary)

Thompson Bros Bowmore 21yo cask 28 (2004, 25th Anniversary)

Region: Islay

ABV: 51.8%

Price: £160.00

Distilled on the 23rd March 2004 and bottled in 2025 after 21 years of maturation, this single cask release was bottled for the Dornoch Castle 25th Anniversary series. Matured in a refill bourbon cask, with an outturn of 289 bottles.

Nose

The nose opens with a bouquet of freshly picked flowers, it's like walking into a florists. Alongside these floral notes sits a balance of sweet and sour aromas, sweetened lemonade and limeade, slightly effervescent, moving into soft peach and sweet pineapple slices. The peat smoke is slightly medicinal, antiseptic, but it's so soft and gentle, acting merely as a background dimension, giving a little more complexity to the dram. As the dram develops, there's a stronger vanilla aroma, freshly scraped vanilla pods, Scottish tablet, and some good quality coconut milk. This is an absolute pleasure to nose.    

Palate

The palate opens with a host of tropical fruits, its mangoes, papayas, grilled pineapple, and some artificial peach rings appearing as the palate develops. The peat makes a little bit more of a prominent appearance, still fairly medicinal in nature, perhaps some dry leaves too. The alcohol spice is also kicking in a little more, but in a pleasant black pepper way. Going back, we're getting more salinity, salted caramel, lots of freshly squeezed lemon juice, and candied apples. The mouthfeel is fine, although probably the weakest part of the dram. There's a light dryness that begins to appear as the finish develops, but it's juxtaposed against a bag of ripe fruits. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has slightly less florality, but many more sweet and sour aromas that appear for us. It's still very fruity, with lots of apple, peach and pineapple. The smoke is still soft, and now slightly more saline, still a little medicinal for us, but also leaning towards a coastal profile. 

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate has a little bit more astringency, dryness up front, but moves quickly into those tropical fruits, citrus and even a little butteriness that begins to appear. Like the unreduced palate, the smoke is still more prominent than the nose, but works harmoniously with the other flavours.

Conclusion

Stunning Bowmore, the type you only get by leaving it in slightly tired wood for a good two decades or more. We'd write more here, but honestly it's just really good whisky and the array of complexity in the tasting notes above speaks for itself. We're sad we didn't get a bottle, but are very appreciative of our friend who kindly provided us with a generous sample.

Score: 8.5/10

Value

Good price compared to other indie releases of Bowmore and official releases at that age.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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