In 2009 Bowmore launched the limited edition ‘Laimrig’ series, which in Gaelic means ‘pier’. By a bizarre twist of fate, the first and only the first edition was reserved for the Swedish market. In 2011 the second batch was released and finally the following year this third bottling, “limited” to 18 thousand bottles. Evidently this product has been a great success, since it has gone from 4500 bottles to 15 thousand and then up again. Today we see if this growing fame meets our incredibly refined tastes.
N: you can see the character of modern whisky, built and yet well built: the sherry is evident, in the form of cola, chinotto, red fruits (cherry jam). Licorice, orange peel in chocolate; it is very fresh even if the wood is felt. The smoking instead, is composed, in Bowmore style, and blending with the wood becomes leather, flavored tobacco. Good, not very difficult, but beautifully squared and pleasant without exceeding. If you want to find a defect, there seems to be a note of wood not fully integrated, but it is really a straw in a haystack. Eh?
P: the wood influence is more evident, even a bit tiring; afterwards you are admitted to a kingdom of sweetness with tamarind, red citrus fruits, blackberry tart, red fruit (cherry). To complete the profile there’s a typical Bowmore taste.
F: chinotto, red fruits, herbaceous, with the smokiness that partly takes up the scene.
This third batch of Laimrig is definitely a good experiment, with a blend of barrels that seem to be chosen for their strong impact on the distillate. The nose and finish are very enjoyable, however the palate is, to our taste, really too intense. If we had to choose a whisky to drink continuously, we would certainly not opt for this Bowmore expression, even if the price of about 90 euro is not so bad when compared to the quality, which we translate into numbers with a 87/100.
Recommended soundtrack: Johann Sebastian Bach – Fantasia in C minor, BWV906.
