Bowmore 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky (40%)

Happy Valentine’s Day! And in celebration, a story about love and single malt whisky!

When earlier this month I asked people on Facebook and LinkedIn what they thought made for a romantic beverage, a fair number of responses mentioned the stories behind the beers or spirits, rather than the characters of the drinks themselves. So here’s the story behind my most romantic beverage, a whisky.

I met my wife, Maggie, later in life, specifically just shy of twenty years ago at the age of 40. (She is much younger and prettier than I.) We struck up a wonderful conversation at a party celebrating the rebirth of a restaurant we both frequented, and a little over a month later – long story – had our first date.

The date went remarkably well, but was followed only two days later by Maggie leaving on a pre-arranged trip to Scotland, so date number two had to wait until her return. Two weeks later, this beautiful, personable, lovely woman not only braved her jet lag to see me on the very day she arrived back in Toronto, she even brought me a gift: a bottle of Bowmore 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky.

And so began our relationship with Bowmore.

Almost seventeen years ago, I proposed in a Scottish pub Maggie had earlier told me was her favourite in the world, the George Hotel in Inverary. (Spoiler alert: She said yes.) Following a celebratory evening and luxurious overnight stay, we set off for Islay to attend the Fèis Ìle, or as they called it then, the Island Festival of Malt and Music. And the first distillery we visited for their Open Day and Ceilidh? You guessed it, Bowmore.

(The Bowmore bash was also the best event we attended during the then-modest, week-long festival, and that’s not just sentimental prejudice talking. The Fèis Ìle has grown almost exponentially since, but back in the mid-aughts most of the distilleries were still just getting the hang of it.)

One year and two days after our engagement, we were married on a Mexican beach, witnessed by nineteen friends and family members, and a little over a month after that we held our reception in Toronto with a little over one hundred guests. To drink, we served red and white wine, Champagne, draught and bottled beer, and one spirit: Bowmore 12 Year Old.

Since that day, Bowmore has been our house single malt, only occasionally out of stock and often served from the cut glass decanter I bought Maggie several birthdays ago. Sentimentality plays a part in all of this, of course, but the whisky would never have assumed such a significant role in our lives were it not so damned good!

Back in the day, before the distillery began producing some peated malts, the north island’s Bunnahabhain distillery used to bill itself as ‘the gentle Islay,’ which has always inspired me to describe Bowmore as the isle’s midweight champion, neither as boisterously peaty as an Ardbeg or Laphroaig nor as reserved as the flagship whiskies of neighboring Jura. Some reviewers characterize it as an ideal introduction to the smoky spirits of Islay, but I believe it to be a destination in and of itself.

On the nose, Bowmore 12 offers smoke, of course, but sweetish and gentle rather than sharp and forceful, with soft notes of melon and papaya, plus floral caramel, in support. The palate begins smoothly and lightly sweet, with caramel and tropical fruit notes, before growing round and full with smoke, vanilla, fresh and baked peach, and a brininess that grows through the drying, slightly citrusy, and joyously lingering finish.

While there is no doubting the emotional connection I feel with this malt, neither, I believe, is there any doubt that it is also a rich, complex, and entirely enjoyable whisky. Frankly, it is to my mind one of the best, if not the best, and most affordable 12 year old whiskies on the market today.

93 ($65 - $78; CRITIC’S CHOICE)