Review #661 - Cadenhead's Bowmore 11 Year (2002) Small Batch
Cadenhead's uses a flavor-first methodology when picking their casks and bottling their whiskies - here's an example, a Bowmore aged for 11 years. Instead of the low bottlings strength such as 40% or 43% ABV that we would likely get from an official bottling from the distillery, this cask was bottled at 57.5% ABV; there's no chill filtration or artificial coloring used, either.
This small batch of 288 bottles was matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead for those 11 years. It was distilled in 2002, and bottling took place back in 2013; an older bottling, then, one that might carry some of the classic Bowmore character from a time before whisky consumption and production exploded in the late 2000s or early 2010s, causing changes in production methods.
Cadenhead's Bowmore 11 Year (2002) Small Batch
Scotland/Islay - Single Malt
Price: USD 110 (2025)
Age Statement: 11 Years
Strength: 57.5% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-bourbon hogshead
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled 2002, bottled 2013; 288 bottles
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle at 50% fill level at time of review. Rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Biscuits and malty grain, as well as some whisky mash notes - like sticking your nose over an active fermenter. It's quite musty, and we get some mild peat smoke, as well as sawdust and lemon. Fruits grow stronger: fibrous tart nectarine, mango juice; there's a hint of pine, too.
Palate: The mouthfeel is medium-thick; strong fruit greets us: tart nectarine, candied mango, quite tropical. It's spicy, too, with some wood notes and wood smoke. The peat has a medium influence, and with time, that mango note gets much stronger.
Finish: Chili powder and mango - sweet and spicy. Peat is somewhat mild, maybe building to a medium strength at times, and there's a subtle herbal note to the aftertaste. It's a long finish.
Final Note: A really nice Bowmore with good flavor development in both the sweet and spicy realms. We love that tropical fruit flavor that we get with from this distillery, especially mango notes, and this bottle had a great chili spice flavor as well. It also displayed some of that softer peat and herbal side that Bowmore is known for - a classic example, really.
Value is decent - we've seen this bottle still available for a bit over $100, despite the fact that it was bottled more than a decade ago. It will be tricky to find at this point, but as an example of independently bottled Bowmore around this age, it shows that there's good value to be found from bottlers like Cadenhead's.
Our Average Rating: 8.3 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.89
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other Bowmore reviews:
Review #493 - Bowmore 12 Year Re-Review
Review #364 - SMWS 3.344 'Maritime Meandering' - Bowmore 18 Year
