A Dark and Brooding Future

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1775 was a long time ago. America didn’t even exist for another two years. Something else, however, did. And it was just beginning to emerge.

That ‘something’ was Bowmore Whisky, which is releasing a new range of whiskies in late 2025 to celebrate its 250^th anniversary. But hang on a second, say the fact checkers. Doesn’t Bowmore’s website state that the first ever mention of the distillery was in 1779, and that distilling started “almost ten years earlier”? Why yes it does! It seems like they might be guessing on the date a bit.

But who cares! We’re getting a range of brand new whiskies, with a brand new rebrand, from the least brand new distillery on the island of Islay, Scotland! That was a tough sentence.

There will be eight new whisky releases, divided into two collections. The most prominent, and first, will be the Bowmore Sherry Oak Collection, whose striking black labels harken back to the iconic ‘Black Bowmore’, distilled in 1964.

As seen in the official picture above, the labels' dark, brooding black and burgundy is a stark difference from the traditional, clean white tones of recent years. I, for one, am a big fan of this rebrand. I find the original easy to lose on the shelves, whereas this sets itself apart as a quality scotch.

As the name suggests, these whiskies are aged in sherry casks, which (as readers from our Spanish whisky article may remember) imparts a fruiter flavour than the alternatives. It’s not available to buy yet, but we are looking forward to trying it! It will be coming in an escalating age range of 12, 15, 18 and 21 years, likely with similarly escalating prices.

The less advertised collection is the Bowmore Appellations, which looks not to sherry, but to the wine producers of Continental Europe. Vineyards and Port Houses across France and Portugal have supplied their barrels to impart a lingering smoky sweetness that elevates an already elevated Scotch.

I think this is an excellent move from Bowmore. They have broken tradition before, such as with their publicised partnership with Aston Martin, but this is an even more significant attempt to change the course of their brand. It is a perfect way to respect the traditions of whisky craftsmanship while embracing the (relatively) recent innovations of sherry casks. This branding is not limited to the new collections but will also slide its way around the bottles of their permanent range over the next year or two. While it will be up to us discerning whisky enthusiasts to judge the new whiskies for ourselves, we will likely be looking at a completely new Bowmore in a matter of a few years.

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