The Bowmore which I now introduce is rather uncommon in OB past series, namely, vintage, cask strength and wine wine cask aged. According to the information from Internet, this 1992 distilled whisky was firstly aged in Bourbon cask for six years and removed to limousin cask which previously held Bordeaux wine for further 10 years. Ten years’ secondary ageing cannot be said a “finish" and therefore it was termed “Wine Cask Matured".

Let’s tasting this wine cask matured vintage Bowmore.

Bowmore 16 year, 1992, Wine Cask Matured, 700 ml, 53.5%

Nose: Pepper, fortified wines, licorice gum, sea salt, caramel, toffee
Palate: Pepper, licorice, caramel, smoked fish, charcoal, dark chocolate
Aftertaste:Medium length, charcoal, roast fish, spices
Comment: Pepper alike spices in the first wave on nose, followed by sweet fortified wine and licorice gum, then island character sea salt appeared, salty favored caramel stuffed toffee bar followed. Full body, taste followed by aromas, medium length aftertaste, trended to toasty. Not very ocean at the beginning, wine favor as the name suggested. Aftertaste it is an islander, sea flavor cannot be concealed. Very good balancing, rich, layered, an excellent whisky.

Bowmore 1992, Wine Cask Matured

Just a simple tasting note about a young Bowmore bottled by The Whisky Agency (TWA)

Bowmore 11 years, 2001/2012, TWA, 700 ml, 53.6%

Nose: Sea breeze, ash, smoked fish, toffee, clove
Palate: Sea water, clove, toffee, barbecue fish, coffee grounds
Aftertaste: Medium length, char coal, tea waste
Comment: Very ocean note, somehow at BBQ stall by the coast. Firm body, oily, inhere elements from nose, not complex but clear and straight forward. Toasty taste also plays an important role, especially at later stage. A good whisky indeed.

Bowmore 11 years, 2001/2012, TWA

Before I introduce this Bowmore whisky, let’s talking about the “proof" at first.

Nowadays, Alcohol By Volume (ABV) is commonly using for indicating the strength of alcohol contents in alcoholic drinks. ABV is measured by the volume ratio of pure alcohol in a liquid at 20 degrees Celsius, e.g. ABV 40% that 40% of pure alcohol in a certain portion of liquid.

You may see some old bottle of whiskies with label showing proof for indicating the alcohol strength as the photo below.

Old label showing proof

In fact there are two proof systems, namely UK and US. The example shown above is a Scotland whisky which eventually applied UK proof. The conversion between ABV and UK proof is quite simple, UK proof/1.75 = ABV %. By using above example, 75 degree proof is equivalent to ABV 42.8%. However, UK has been using ABV to display alcohol strength since 1 January 1980.

US always uses ABV to determine and indicate alcohol strength on drinks but there is a proof system for US. The conversion with ABV is different from UK proof. It is simply divided the degree figures by two. Some whiskey producers show ABV on label in compliance with regulations as well as US proof at the same time. The photo below is an example of showing both ABV and US proof on label.

New label showing both ABV and US proof

Back to a foundation question – where was proof" from? It was rumored that in the 16 – 17 th century the seamen were allocated to rum while they were sailing on the sea. In such a dangerous yet boring journal, hard liquor became a necessity to seamen, especially in such an old days. Yes, we said hard liquor, that the liquor must be hard enough. Some ship owners might dilute the rum with water to save costs but the seamen obviously disagreed. Some people discover a simple method to determine the alcohol strength, that was pouring alcohol onto the subjected liquor and passed if it was able to ignite. The marginal point is so-called 100 proof. Oh! What a manhood story!

Yes, it was a manhood story, nothing more than a story. The truth of establishing proof system was to determine the tax level over the alcoholic drink, the higher the strength the higher the tax being imposed.

The bedtime story is over and now back to this Bowmore 100 Degree Proof which is available at duty free channels.

Bowmore 100 Degrees Proof, 700 ml, 57.1%

Nose: Honey, sea water, straw ash, hay, clove
Palate: Nectar, sea water, smoked fish, ash
Aftertaste: Medium length, smoked fish, ash, spices
Comment: Light honey at front, then weaves rolled, accompanying with ash and hay, scent like wildfire aftermath, touch of clove adding layer. Though high alcohol strength, not overwhelming alcohol on palate, still honeyed smoked seafood. Medium length aftertaste, smoky and spices. Rather flat on nose while rich and solid in mouth, so as to aftertaste. A clear peaty and maritime dram, heavy but easy to drink, a good whisky.

Bowmore 100 Degree Proof

Bowmore 100 Degree Proof

繼續是 Bowmore 的簡單酒評。我現在要介紹的這款酒，是當時 Bowmore OB 中較少見的記年 vintage 還要是疑似桶裝濃度 cask strength 的酒款，特別的還有是用紅酒桶陳年的。就網上一些未經證實資料所得，這款一九九二年蒸餾的酒，先陳年於美帝波本桶 Bourbon cask 六年，再轉到波爾多紅酒桶 Bordeaux wine limousin cask 陳年十載，十年的話不止過桶了吧，所以酒標是印上 Wine Cask Matured。

來，喝渴看這紅酒桶陳的 Bowmore 是怎樣的吧。忘了說，這樣本是近兩年喝的了，這算是舊酒評。樣本來自酒友 Ginger 的老 Tung。

Bowmore 16 year, 1992, Wine Cask Matured, 700 ml, 53.5%

氣味: 胡椒，強化酒，甘草糖，海鹽，焦糖，拖肥
口味: 胡椒，甘草，焦糖，燻魚，木炭，黑朱古力
餘蘊: 中等長度，焦炭，烤魚，香料
結論: 充鼻而來的是類似胡椒的辛香料，一輪帶甜的強化酒和甘草軟糖過後，代表性的海鹽才猶抱琵琶半遮面的出現，之後鹹香持續，香甜的焦糖拖肥接續。酒體豐厚，口味繼承氣味，中等長度的餘蘊，焦香為主。氣味起初不是很海島，很葡萄酒桶陳的風味，當然，島民始終是島民，大海氣息是掩蓋不住的。甚佳的平衡，豐富，層次佳，正斗之作。

Bowmore 1992, Wine Cask Matured

一個間單的小酒評，由 The Whisky Agency (TWA) 裝瓶的 Bowmore 年輕酒款。

Bowmore 11 years, 2001/2012, TWA, 700 ml, 53.6%

氣味: 海風，煙灰，燻魚，拖肥，丁香
口味: 海水，丁香，拖肥，烤魚，咖啡渣
餘蘊: 中等長度，焦炭，茶葉渣
結論: 很海洋的氣味，有點像在海邊的燒烤小食攤檔。酒體結實，油潤，延續氣味，整體不複雜，但清晰直接，除海島元素外，亦重焦香味道，尤以後期發展更重，清脆易飲，飲得過。

很簡單，對吧。沒有甚麼大故事，直接到位就行。對自己要有信心，不用左抄一段右抄一遍，以無關痛癢的文字去填滿空間，去顯得好像很豐富懂很多似的。真的沒有信心?不打緊，世上甚麼事也需要學習的，就算 XXOO 也要觀摩多點愛情動作片學一招半式吧。自己認真好好打穩根基，學到的永遠是屬於自己的。時興說甚麼"識人好過識字"，為參麼不自己好好學字識字，待那些喜歡"識人好過識字"的人來巴結你呢?

有志者共勉之。

Bowmore 11 years, 2001/2012, TWA

簡單酒評，這次介紹的，是 Bowmore 的 100 Degree Proof。談酒之前先說 proof。

現時酒類飲品的酒精濃度一般是以 Alcohol By Volume (ABV)，即酒精於該液體於攝氏二十度時含有的比例，以體積百分比來表示，如 ABV 40% 即是純酒精計佔該液體四成。

如你遇到一些舊瓶裝的威士忌，其酒標有機會是以 proof 顯示酒精度，如下圖所示。

Old label showing proof

值得留意的是，proof 有分英制和美制，如上圖所示的是蘇格蘭威士忌，很明顯是用英制的了，與 ABV 的換算為將 proof 度數除以 1.75，以上圖 75 degree proof 的例子，其換算後的 ABV 就是 42.8%。英國自一九八零年一月一日起已轉用 ABV 標準去量度酒精度的了。

美國方面是用 ABV 標準去量度及標示酒精度的，但美國也有 Proof 標準，與ABV 的換算和英制的不同，將 proof 度數除以二就是 ABV 酒精度。就算到了現在，美國的威士忌除了按法規以 ABV 標示酒精度外，有時也會同時以 US proof 雙行標示的，如下圖的例子所示，ABV 40% 相等於 80 proof。

New label showing both ABV and US proof

說 proof 了那麼多，其實 proof 從何來? 傳說以前大航海時代，海員是會有冧酒(蘭姆酒) Rum 配給飲用的，要知道當年科技未發達，在漫長無趣但又充滿危機的航程上，喝點烈酒是很必須的吧。對了，是烈酒哦，烈酒一定要夠烈的。有些船公司或船主，有可能為了減省成本，會在 Rum 酒中兌水。這些不夠烈的烈酒對海員來說當然不收貨，在約十六至十七世紀時，當年流行一種既簡單且切合當年環境的量度方法，就是將酒到到火藥粉末中，引火點得起的，便算及格，臨界點的為 100 proof，海員接受這度數。其實，測量酒精度，真正用意是用來徵稅的，酒精度高的酒，徵稅也多些。你喜歡大航海男人的浪漫，還是相信徵稅的市儈的現實，適隨尊便。

水能滅火，但酒精卻能助燃，兌水太多的冧酒於火藥會點不起火，酒精夠烈的才點得起火。對了，各位好奇寶寶可不要去弄火藥來嘗試，一方面危險另一方面私藏火藥是犯法的哦。酒精比重計由數十元的簡易版到上百上千元的精密版也有賣的，有興趣的可"淘"來玩玩。

還是說回這款於二零一二年推出，最初於免稅店發售的 Bowmore 100 Degree Proof 吧。

Bowmore 100 Degrees Proof, 700 ml, 57.1%

氣味: 蜜糖，海水，草灰，乾草，丁香
口味: 花蜜，海水，燻魚，煙蠔，煙灰
餘蘊: 中等長度，燻魚，煙灰，香料
結論: 起首為輕輕的蜜糖，海水隨即湧上，伴有草灰和乾草，有點山火後的感覺，後一抹丁香，添加層次。酒清度雖高，但酒體不算強橫，口味上是蜜糖煙燻海鮮。中等長度的餘蘊，以煙燻和香料為主。這款酒稍平面，氣味較平淡，但口味頗豐富，亦結實，餘蘊亦甘苦耐嚼，整體上是海洋泥煤得來清脆，一款重身但易飲的海島威士忌，飲得過。

Bowmore 100 Degree Proof

Bowmore 100 Degree Proof