Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles
Bowmore occupies a particular place in Islay whisky — not the most aggressively peated (that is Ardbeg or Bruichladdich’s Octomore), not the most recognised (Laphroaig claims that), but arguably the most complex in combining significant peat with equally significant sherry cask influence.
The distillery has operated continuously since 1779, making it one of the oldest continuously operating distilleries in Scotland. Its position in Bowmore village — with its warehouses partially below sea level, where the whisky matures in contact with the cool, damp air drawn off the Atlantic — contributes a specific maritime quality to the spirit that more inland distilleries cannot replicate.
Black Bowmore: The Legendary Expression
Black Bowmore is one of the most discussed whisky releases of the modern era — a series of expressions from 1964 vintage casks, released in the 1990s, that achieved near-mythical status both for their quality and for the prices they subsequently commanded. The combination of decades of slow sherry cask maturation with Bowmore’s house peat character in those particular casks produced something that changed how serious collectors thought about what aged Islay whisky could be.
The 12 Year Old Sherry Cask expression represents the same philosophy at a more accessible level: peat and sherry in genuine balance, with the maritime character of Bowmore running through both.
Bowmore expressions are available at Bar Little Happiness. Read the full Japanese column: little-happiness.jp/columns/bowmore12y-sherry/
Bar Little Happiness | Hiroshima, Japan
Rum & Whisky specialists | 1,000+ bottles | English menu available
Open Mon–Sat 7PM–12:30AM, Sun 7PM–midnight
No cover charge. Walk-ins welcome.
english.little-happiness.jp