Whiskybase

Bowmore Virgin Oak Matured

Overall rating
86.86/100
votes
124
Whiskybase ID
WB68585
Category
Single Malt
Distillery
Bottler
Distillery Bottling
Bottling serie
Feis Ile Collection
Bottled
2015
Casktype
Virgin Oak Casks
Number of bottles
1000
Strength
55.7 % Vol.
Size
700 ml
Bottle code
L152186
Bottled for
Feis Ile 2015
Market
gb United Kingdom
Added on
27 may 2015 7:36 pm by cfosterk
UncoloredNon-chillfilteredCask Strength
Bowmore Virgin Oak Matured
Photo by DrBardamu
Bowmore Virgin Oak Matured
Photo by DrBardamu
Bowmore Virgin Oak Matured
Photo by WizkyHolland

Average value

€ 267.00

Found 3 online shops. Lowest price:

€ 260.00
de Whisky-Raritäten Andermann € 265.00
de Finest Whisky € 269.00
Create a free Whiskybase account to view 1 additional offers and compare bottle prices of sellers all over the world
Create free account

18 × in wishlist

124 × member ratings

250 × in collection

Whisky Reviews for Bowmore Virgin Oak Matured

32 users have left a review for this whisky and scored it an average of 86.86 points

  1. ASWhisky scored this whisky 91 points Connoisseur

    finally a good Bowmore with style, character and excitement
    not been drinking something like Bowmore for a long time
    old school style
    he is good and I am happy
    he was really fun
    yes, I'm in heaven
    • Nose
      it is raining fine twine
      the air is hazy
      fine smoke is still rising from the beams
      he smells burned and iodine
      The vase stands lonely and unmoving on the table as if nothing had happened
      white lilies
      the flower water has almost evaporated
      Yesterday you peeled oranges here
      You can still feel her ripe sweet flesh on your tongue
      You are stroking your lips
      the rain on your skin is salty
      how intensively you suddenly feel and smell everything
      flowery, fruity, salty and yet terribly sweet
      You take a deep breath
      The wood smoke mixes with the sweet smell of white lilies
      the pulp drips seductively
      mmh .. Your saliva starts to flow
    • Taste
      nice soft and sweet in the beginning with chocolate
      then your tongue glows from wood ash
      nice spicy ashes
      Wood with chocolate and sweet orange
      Between your tongue and your palate, spicy bitterness of wood ash arises
      with a lot of sweet orange
      You feel smoke on the palate and in the throat
      the smoke is very full and swells from your inside into the throat
      …it's good
      Your tongue tastes of sweet tobacco and dark liquid caramel
      Smoke and ashes remain in your cheeks
      In your mouth caramelized ivy leaves remain with sugar ... mmmh

      what a beautiful mouth
      a very nice floral note tart and sweet
      with 85.52 points clearly undervalued in the base
    • Finish
      long
      many notes on the finish
      from smoky, sweet, tart to soft, everything is there ... wood and sweet tobacco
      a lot of warm orange juice with cocoa / barrel very delicious
      and he keeps coming back
      bitter sweet tea leaves
      Wow very beautiful

      this is smelling wood ash and sweet ivy in the empty glass

  2. Marko_I did not rate this whisky Connoisseur

    I like Bowmore and liked pretty much all the Virgin Oak bottlings so far ... and here's where the right people met, yummy.
    • Nose
      Cuddly-cozy, sweet, spicy wood smoke (not a bit bitter or ashen or phenolic), brown sugar, flambé pudding, white chocolate, cedar wood, a hint of orange marmalade
    • Taste
      full-bodied & intense, dark chocolate, spicy, sweet, again dark cane sugar, molasses, candied orange peel, the smoke is subtle, only slightly ashy / bitter, sweetish-woody, hookah tobacco
    • Finish
      long, sugar sweetness, tobacco, the smoke comes again clearly, but not too bitter, pleasant spice

  3. magic_slim scored this whisky 86 points Connoisseur

    I am happy that Bowmore did not use wine casks again for their Feis Ile bottling. This one is much better than the other ones that I tasted before.
    • Nose
      Intensively peaty, fresh and clean with licorice at first nosing. Sweet and oaky, with notes of log-fire, pencil shavings, dark honey, caramel and orange zest. Very nice and pleasant.
    • Taste
      Warming, sweet and spirituous like one of these old Black&White Blends at first mouthfeel, then dominated by smoky and oaky aromas with notes of black tea and pepper. A little bit austere but summarizing the taste is nice and pleasant.
    • Finish
      Long and spirituous, warming from deep inside with a dry, peppery and oaky aftertaste.

  4. megabreit scored this whisky 90 points Expert Junior

    One of the best Bowmore malts I've tasted so far.
    • Nose
      Flowery hyacinths, beeswax and smoke, behind it orange notes. The scent is of almost breathtaking gravity, as if you are doing cross-country skiing in high temperatures and high humidity.
    • Taste
      Caramelised barley malt, honey, dark fruits, toasted brown bread, brine and a peat smoke
    • Finish
      long, warm and very balanced

  5. Gloin scored this whisky 90 points Expert Senior

    The whisky is very constant; no element (nose, mouth, palate) falls off the rest. The whisky is consistent and has exciting notes. A very good bowmore, really, very delicious.
    • Nose
      Mild to moderately strong smoke, burnt and somewhat medicinal, very soft for the high alcohol content, sweet caramel, floral, sweet citrus fruits in the background, (sweet orange?), A subtle hint of glue, slightly scented
    • Taste
      Sweet medical smoke, then a slight prickling on the tongue, outrageously sweet, a little wood, spicy, at the second sip slightly bitter, sage, the smoke is stronger than in the nose
    • Finish
      Sweet smoke, caramel, burnt sugar, panna cotta with caramel sauce, the smoke stays discreet but long on the palate, sweet tobacco

  6. yggr scored this whisky 86 points Specialist

    • Nose
      86 86
    • Taste
      86 86
    • Finish
      85 85

  7. LDB scored this whisky 86 points Connoisseur

    Delicious, but relatively simple. Kind of overrated.
    • Nose
      Ex-Bourbon seasoning with a touch of Febrèze.
    • Taste
      Tannins, smoky oil, lots of salty lemon
    • Finish
      Dry and quite long.

  8. Ostap scored this whisky 89 points Connoisseur

    Something in the aroma was constantly tense and did not allow to fully enjoy it. But the taste and aftertaste amused, juicy, voluminous, long.
    • Nose
      86 86
      Smoky, smoked, tarpaulin, rubber, rice and semolina, new furniture, sweet pastries, oatmeal cookies, vanilla casserole, non-alcoholic, extinct charcoal, salty sea notes, mint and other fragrant herbs, mineral, Indian spices and oils from massage set, burnt paper, sweet plasticine. Something is constantly lurking in the aroma ...
    • Taste
      91 91
      Smoke, raisins, juicy fruit, dessert, baked meat in a sweet sauce, a bunch of peppers, the degree is not felt, white grapes. Deliciously!
    • Finish
      89 89
      Warms, quite long, sweet as jam, pepper, knits, oak, persimmon, cigarette ash.

  9. WhiskyBjorn83 scored this whisky 74 points Expert Senior

    08-03-2020
    • Nose
      73 73
      fruit, smoke
    • Taste
      75 75
      vanilla, fruit, hint of (sea) salt, smoke
    • Finish
      74 74
      vanilla, fruit, hint of (sea) salt, smoke

  10. nallacam scored this whisky 89 points Connoisseur

    Intense power pack.
    Full of aromas, bundled from a very active barrel.
    • Nose
      91 91
    • Taste
      88 88
    • Finish
      88 88

  11. Kantenmechaniker scored this whisky 89 points Connoisseur

    I would have expected something different under Virgin Oak, but what I got was still very good. As already written below, I would have assumed blindly from a sherry barrel. Definitely a great bowmore if you give him some time in the glass.
    • Nose
      medium smoke, spice, mint, floral, maritime, salt, herbs, bacon, some chocolate, vanilla, the maritime bacon becomes more intense, there is something sweet, caramel, the chocolate also gets stronger, generally it opens better with a little time, it becomes totally creamy, after the first sip also raspberry, which comes across as slightly effervescent
    • Taste
      creamy, dark chocolate, raisin, a taste explosion, slightly floral, that could be a little violet, sweet, licorice, well integrated smoke, if I had to guess blindly, I would always tap on sherry, great mouthfeel, warming, good to drink pure
    • Finish
      fruity, raisins, drier, still liquorice on the palate, chilli, salt on the tip of the tongue, light smoke, sweetness comes through again and again

  12. LordBellamy scored this whisky 88 points Expert Senior

    damn tasty, familiar and yet unusual. Bowmore simply mixes well with fresh oak
    • Nose
      88 88
      N: balanced campfire smoke note, orange peel, vanilla, floral sweetness (meadow honey), a decent portion of oak (pencil abrasion, fresh wood shavings), vanilla, cake dough, salt, well-integrated alcohol, only a slight alcoholic tingling (menthol) in the nose
    • Taste
      87 87
      nice onset, good texture, sweet, quite strong smoke, a lot of vanilla, honey and well-balanced oak flavors
    • Finish
      88 88
      long, caramel, vanilla, orange with salt crust, oak chips, but not bitter

  13. Deloti scored this whisky 86 points Expert Senior

    • Nose
      88 88
    • Taste
      86 86
    • Finish
      85 85

  14. Sidney87 scored this whisky 90 points Expert Senior

    • Nose
      87 87
    • Taste
      90 90
    • Finish
      91 91

  15. whiskycuse did not rate this whisky Expert Senior

    Tasting Notes:

    https://whiskycuse.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/bowmore-nas-virgin-oak-matured-557-vol-ob-feis-ile-2015/

  16. Albaron scored this whisky 86 points Specialist

    The nose is interesting. The mouth is not that strong but still a good bowmore. Delicious and completely different than the others. Many unusual flavors that are fun. There is still a lot to discover and another tasting would certainly bring more.
    • Nose
      tons of vanilla, honey, some mint, oak, green apples, light smoke, some sea breeze and oily
    • Taste
      Smoke, vanilla, oak, the tannins are very present, warming, mint, bright melon, some pear and solvent
    • Finish
      still pleasant oak, light smoke and the mint blows away slowly

  17. hs305 scored this whisky 87 points Connoisseur

    [June, 2015]  I had this dram during a "Feis Ile 2015" tasting at Bonn.

    In my old rating system (ten scales that translate into WB points: 50 - 66 - 75 - 80 - 82,5 - 85 - 87,5 - 90 - 92,5 - 95) I scored it 87,5. I took no detailed notes.

  18. helmutgw scored this whisky 80 points Expert Senior

    F: oiled alder N: (bourbon) sweetness, strong alcoholic, closed G: very thin body, sweet - spicy - spicy: rape honey, vanilla, wood A: long, alcoholic, bitter + H2O: gets pretty thin, more bourbon flavors, vanilla - does not stand more water
    • Nose
      79 79
    • Taste
      81 81
    • Finish
      79 79

  19. Tommyknocker scored this whisky 88 points Expert Senior

    a flavor bomb, a lot of (good) wood, the Bowmore character is there, but the barrel has the say here. Sometimes no "dark sherry", rather "dark oak". Is working. If you want to criticize something, then the lack of complexity of eg a SMWS Bowmore from the refill bourbon barrel. But again: it works!
    • Nose
      Pur: I do not know why, it should actually be bad, actually it should be rejected, but quite often the Virgin Oak ripening works, especially with peated Islay Malts. Here in the robe of a mildly peated Bowmore malts. Much heavier, sweet and dark honey, caramel, a little vanilla. As if you had corn for a great bourbon over peat fires. In addition to blood orange, unfortunately, only a few maritime notes, which are slain by the Fassaromenfracht. The smoke is well-known at Bowmore, but it never comes to the fore, though this is certainly a younger distillate under 10 (ok, no evidence, but over 10 would surely put it on the label). With water: hardly difference. Maybe a little more fruit notes.
    • Taste
      Also here as expected from the nose very full-bodied, the heavy sweetness fills the mouth, delicious bitter oak, peppery and dry. Dark chocolate with 70%. The smoke fills the few remaining rooms of this board in the truest sense of the word. With water: a little less intense, not so hard sweet, more a Bowmore as you know him. Maybe a tempest on caffeine.
    • Finish
      long, sticky, sweet, spicy with tannins.

  20. stefsel111 scored this whisky 88 points Connoisseur

    • Nose
      89 89
    • Taste
      88 88
    • Finish
      88 88

  21. Hemdl scored this whisky 89 points Connoisseur

    The opinions on this malt are very different. Some love him, the others can not win the "Virgin Oak" and favor the Shery-Cask bottlings.
    By itself, however, I find this Bowmore extremely successful, it is an exciting and varied malt that meets my taste. Strong smoke, sweet citrus notes and clear but not excessive influence of tannins from the fresh wood. I like it, very much.
    • Nose
      Smoke - smoke! More direct and powerful than most Bowmore bottlings I know. Behind it citrus fruits and noticeable oak. For the high alcohol content very soft and unobtrusive, it is necessary to keep the nose deep into the glass to grab the menthol-like freshness of the alcohol. With a little more time in the glass, the malt is a bit sweeter in the nose and therefore even more pleasurable - sugared oranges.
    • Taste
      First, the sweet citrus from the nose, but relatively quickly disappear and make room for spicy, slightly dull smoke. Again surprisingly strong for a Bowmore, but that suits. Slight bitterness, paired with smoke. In between every now and then something sweet orange flashes - I like it. Of the 55.7% Vol. Is not even in the Anatz something to feel strong but without Fehlnoten.
    • Finish
      The long finish is dominated by light bitterness and dark smoke. Tobacco notes can be found as well as sweet almonds. A slightly bitter smoke / nut mixture remains on the palate for a long time.

  22. FernetBranco scored this whisky 86 points Connoisseur

    • Nose
      84 84
    • Taste
      85 85
    • Finish
      91 91

  23. Segens scored this whisky 89 points Connoisseur

    Actually a good and spicy Bowmore which is worth trying.
    • Nose
      A lot of smoke with some sweet notes (caramel) and also a lot of oak. The cask is there! :-) After a while I have herbs, black pepper and muscatel
    • Taste
      Wow strong start with a lot of sweetness (honey&caramel). A christmas mix of oranges and chocolate. very very nice!
    • Finish
      Smooth smokey finish with some sweetness

  24. markjedi1 scored this whisky 88 points Connoisseur

    Roar

    After the
    Auchentoshan Virgin Oak and Glen Garioch Virgin Oak the release of the Bowmore
    Virgin Oak does not come as a surprise. I am surprised, though, by the fact
    that Bowmore decided to release this at cask strength (the other two were
    bottled at 48%) and moreover as the Feis Ile 2015 bottling. Then it must be
    excellent, no? Only 1.000 bottles were launched at the festival (700 at the
    festival itself and another 300 on Bowmore Day on 27th May 2015).
    They are all gone now, of course.

    The nose is smoky and
    sweet. It reminds me of melon, blood oranges and milk chocolate on the one
    hand, a Breugel tabel with packed meat and smoked ham on the other. Wonderful
    hints of mocha and espresso with whipped cream, joined by creamy vanilla
    custard and almonds. A soft but unmistakable smokiness gives it a nice depth.
    Leave it for a few minutes and a fresh Brussels waffle with coconut topping
    emerges. Complex and inviting.

    On the palate I first
    get loads of spices and pure wood, still smoldering. Liquid hearth (what?).
    Quite a bit of peat, mind you. The spices are cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and some
    black pepper. The fruit is the same as on the nose with the blood oranges in
    the lead. Midpalate some salt kicks in, while the smoke fades and returns.
    There is quite a bit going on here.

    The mocha returns in
    the finish, but it’s the spices that roar until the end.

    Very powerful and
    spicy Bowmore, of which the spirit clearly enjoyed the virgin wood. Used to be
    55 pounds on Islay, but 175 EUR in shops. Not cheap, eh? Thanks to The Green
    Man for the generous sample.

  25. Bona scored this whisky 77 points Expert Junior

    To me that Bowmore was almost undrinkable. Perhaps it was the virgin oak- the dram reminded me of burnt rubber,cold ashes (cigarettes), motoroil and a lot of unpleasant oakiness which was not well integrated. Some People might like this, cause it is very unique and strange. I didnt enjoy this, not even 80 P.

  26. hettrum scored this whisky 88 points Expert Senior

    • Nose
      88 88
    • Taste
      89 89
    • Finish
      87 87

  27. Diogenes scored this whisky 88 points Expert Junior

    A very compliant bowmore
    • Nose
      nice smoke with a slightly medical note in the direction of iodine, vanilla, oranges, in the background a light citrus note.
      For the alk. content very soft in d
    • Taste
      Surprisingly strong, spicy on the palate, followed by chocolate and sweet orange, the whole is surrounded by a nice smoky note and tobacco note
    • Finish
      sweet smoke, caramelized sugar and light cocoa notes

  28. ASWhisky scored this whisky 91 points Connoisseur

    Wow what a great Bowmore I'm excited

  29. Glenladdie scored this whisky 84 points Expert Senior

    • Nose
      86 86
    • Taste
      84 84
    • Finish
      85 85

  30. Paulski88 scored this whisky 64 points Expert Senior

    • Nose
      70 70
    • Taste
      70 70
    • Finish
      49 49

  31. Noface83 scored this whisky 85 points Specialist

    Nose: very pleasant smoke, freshly beaten wood, vanilla and beautiful notes of honeydew melon and a hint of citrus. Very pleasing the part but without great enthusiasm.
    Taste: surprisingly strong and warm smoky onset. Lots of oak and some sharpness. Cloves and cinnamon. Almost no fruitiness at all. Only in the finish is again a beautiful honey sweetness but barely has a chance against the dominant oak. In the finish dominate dark oak notes (mocha) and vanilla.
    Also a very successful because very own festival bottling. Maybe a little bit apart from the others, but alone is a very good Bowmore.
    • Nose
      86 86
    • Taste
      86 86
    • Finish
      84 84

  32. Wolv scored this whisky 83 points Expert Senior

    • Nose
      83 83
    • Taste
      84 84
    • Finish
      85 85

Tastingtags

Add tasting tags by clicking the flavours you recognized in this whisky.

Whiskybase

Whiskybase was founded in 2007 with the goal to create the biggest resource of whisky information in the world. A community driven website built by and for whisky enthusiasts.  




Whiskybase B.V. 
Zwaanshals 530 
3035 KS Rotterdam 
The Netherlands 

KVK: 52072819
VAT: NL850288836B01

Copyright © 2022


Whiskies

Shop




Market



General

We use cookies to improve your online experience. By using this site, you consent to this use as described in our Privacy Policy.

Forgot your password?

Login