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Black Bowmore 1964 - 1993. 29 Year Old. 1st Edition. One of 2,000 bottles. 75cl. 50%. In wooden presentation box.
A legendary bottle, the first edition of Black Bowmore 1964 was a 29-year-old Islay single malt whisky released by the distillery in 1993. This bottling did arguably more than any other individual whisky to kick off the renaissance in Islay single malt and catalysed the luxury whisky market at the same time. It's become a bit of a cliche to talk about how this bottle cost £70 upon release in 1993 but it goes to show just what a legendary whisky it is and how important it was as a bottling in formulating the early mentality of serious whisky enthusiasm.
Distilled in 1964 and bottled in 1993 at 50% after 29 years of maturation in sherry casks, the Black Bowmore first edition is one of the all time great Bowmores and one of those drams that needs to be tasted to be believed. This famous first bottling of Black Bowmore 1964 was an edition of 2000 bottles released at a very hearty 50% without an enormous amount of fanfare in 1993 from a batch of 1964 Oloroso sherry casks that has subsequently passed into whisky folklore. A palate of extraordinarily rich, dense, chewy peat and oceans of tropical fruit, this Bowmore deserves its place in the pantheon of whisky history. An absolutely incredible whisky and one of the most unforgettable drinking experiences you'll ever have.
This particular bottle features a well-preserved filling level and the original wax seal. It is important to note that many of these bottles were historically re-worked and resealed with lead capsules by the distillery, as the original wax seals frequently failed or broke. Consequently, this is one of the few examples you will find in such well-preserved condition.
Constructed in 1779, Bowmore is Islay’s oldest distillery and dominates the island’s capital. After changing hands several times early in the 20th century, Bowmore distillery was bought by Stanley P. Morrison in 1963 and embarked on a golden era. This lasted until the early 1980s, when a strangely soapy character took hold in Bowmore’s spirit, before another run of extraordinary quality in the 1990s. The Japanese firm Suntory took full control of Bowmore in 1994, the year after the first release of Black Bowmore, a legendary whisky that catalysed the prestige whisky market.
Early official bottlings of Bowmore are highly sought after, particularly the Sherriff’s bottlings, the stunning Bicentenary editions, and the 1950s-70s vintage editions that appeared from the early 1980s. The modern Bowmore 1964 Trilogies and subsequent prestige bottlings are also fiercely contested by deep-pocketed fans, as are the numerous fabulous old indie bottlings of 1960s vintages by Samaroli, Giaccone, Duncan Taylor, Signatory and others.
Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.
This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.
| BID | DATE | TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| £9,600.00 | 9th May 2026 | 03:48 PM | |
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