A legendary bottling of Bowmore from 1979 to celebrate the distillery's bicentenary. Vatted from some wholly exceptional 1960s sherry casks, this is renowned as one of the best Bowmores ever.

It was matured in the vaults of No 1 Warehouse, the original warehouse in the distillery, dating back to 1779. The bottle, bearing the Morrison clan coat of arms, is a replica of a hand blown decanter and was filled in the distillery early in 1979.

Colour: amber. Nose: thrillingly earthy, salty sherry. This wonderful duality of sweet raisins and fresher exotic fruits. Dried pineapple, mango chunks, passion fruit syrup, then breads, cough medicine and a rather old school, herbal peatiness. Camphor, hardwood resins and more herbal qualities like throat sweets, waxes and old liqueurs. Brilliant and compelling as expected. Mouth: a tad soft on arrival but otherwise gloriously tropical, salty and fatty. Bacon fat, tar, ointments, dried herbs, cured meats and jellied tropical fruits. Getting wonderfully broad and complex; the peat is generous, herbal, thick and warming. Let’s not beat about the bush here. Finish: long with a deep and drying peatiness. Surprisingly peaty really. More tar, dried herbs, cured meats and salinity in the aftertaste. Comments: Probably not the best old Bicentenary but this is still mesmerising and heartwarming old whisky, just a tad fragile I think. I wonder if this will be an increasing phenomena as these old bottles get even older: bottle variation? The fruits, salt and meaty, earthy robustness are still profoundly pleasurable here though. However, a bottle in better condition can easily hit 95+

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