Bowmore 1965 / Vintage Label / Bot.1980s Islay Whisky

Priya Sharma — Incredible but hard to justify

7/10

I split a bottle with three mates and we savoured it over several sessions neat. The nose is extraordinary — dried flowers, subtle peat, a hint of something like mango. On the palate it's silky and complex. My only gripe is that at nine grand, I kept thinking about how many excellent bottles I could buy instead.

Natasha Volkov — A piece of liquid history

9/10

I was lucky enough to try this at a friend's tasting last year and it completely floored me. The peat is there but it's softened by decades in the bottle — more campfire embers than bonfire. At £9000 it's obviously not an everyday dram, but for a 1965 Bowmore bottled in the 80s, you're drinking something genuinely irreplaceable.

Clara Johansson — A piece of liquid history

9/10

I was lucky enough to try this at a friend's tasting last year and it completely floored me. The peat is there but it's softened by decades in the bottle — more campfire embers than bonfire. At £9000 it's obviously not an everyday dram, but for a 1965 Bowmore bottled in the 80s, you're drinking something genuinely irreplaceable.

Gianluca Ferro — A piece of liquid history

9/10

I was lucky enough to try this at a friend's tasting last year and it completely floored me. The peat is there but it's softened by decades in the bottle — more campfire embers than bonfire. At £9000 it's obviously not an everyday dram, but for a 1965 Bowmore bottled in the 80s, you're drinking something genuinely irreplaceable.

Luna Chavez — Elegant old Islay

8/10

Had a pour of this at a whisky bar in Edinburgh. Nothing like modern Bowmore — the smoke is gentle and layered with tropical fruit and old leather. At 43% it's perfectly balanced and doesn't need a drop of water. Worth every penny if you can find it, though finding it is the hard part.

Tyler Bennet — Elegant old Islay

8/10

Had a pour of this at a whisky bar in Edinburgh. Nothing like modern Bowmore — the smoke is gentle and layered with tropical fruit and old leather. At 43% it's perfectly balanced and doesn't need a drop of water. Worth every penny if you can find it, though finding it is the hard part.