John Mansell from the Malt Advocate Blog announced the 2008 Malt Advocate Whisky Awards in New York last night. The awards ceremony was held at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square. Amongst the many winners there were two special mentions of Islay Whiskies and one of them was a winner. Two Bowmore whiskies appeared in the top ten new whiskies for 2008: The Black Bowmore, 1964 vintage, 42 year old and the White Bowmore, 1964 vintage, 43 year old. And, according to the Malt Advocate Magazine, the Scotch Malt Whisky of the Year is the Black Bowmore, 1964 Vintage, 42 year old. Congratulations to the people of Bowmore Distillery!!

For those of you who read John's blog this doesn't come as a surprise. Already in February John wrote the following about the Black Bowmore: "I have now tasted this whisky twice: last night before dinner with Iain McCallum, Bowmore’s whisky 'nose', and this morning, in my hotel room before posting this. My opinion is the same. My rating for this whisky, which will be published in the next issue of Malt Advocate magazine, is: 97. (That’s the highest rating I have ever given a whisky.)" Continue reading......Earlier in the week Jim Murray announced Ardbeg Uigeadail to be World Whisky of the Year, another great reward for an Islay Malt Whisky. On top of all that Mark Reynier from the Bruichladdich Distillery sent me the tasting notes from the same Jim Murray about Port Charlotte 6: "The world’s leading whisky authority was left ecstatic, lost for words by a new dram that was so good it won two awards a head of whiskies twice as old. Jim Murray, whisky guru, writer and broadcaster, is the author of The Whisky Bible, the most extensive collection of 3,850 tasting notes ever published. During last year Murray tasted a staggering 1,500 whiskies before being overcome by PC6, a new peated Islay whisky. The published tasting note reads:

Nose 24.5: "Ohhhhhh… arrrrrrrrgh…mmmmmmm... Oh, the peat, the peat… Yessssss… Oh my God..., mmmmmm… ohhhhhhh…'
Taste 24.0: First you get the smoky… Ooooohhhhhhh… arrrrrrrrrr… Then the sweeter..., mmmmmmmm… arrrroooohhhh…'
Finish 24.0: It finishes with a more gentle arghoooo... mmmmmmm... oooophhhhhh… arrrrrrrrrr…'
Overall 24.0: Not many whiskies have a truly unmistakable nose… and…, but this is, this… is..., this… mmmmmmm... arrrrrhh. Ohhhhhhh…'
The total of 96.5% ensured, despite being only 6 years old, PC6 won two awards: Best New Whisky and Best Whisky 12 years and under."

Are we still talking about whisky here? :-)

Tag: bowmore ardbeg bruichladdich reward whisky distilleries