May 18: Bowmore Online Tasting with Master Blender Calum Fraser......
Fellow Drammers,
We’re excited to announce a major new online tasting on Sunday, May 18th with Calum Fraser, the Master Blender for Suntory Global, overseeing all of their Scotch and Irish whisk(e)y portfolios. We first met Calum on Islay, on Bowmore day, a few years ago at one of his masterclasses on blending, and started a conversation around creating this event. Since then we’ve been collecting rare Bowmore bottles to feature at this tasting. Calum began his career with a PHD in organic chemistry, which he parlayed into a job at Diageo. He worked his way up the ranks there for 5 years, before taking on a blending role at Chivas Brothers, where he refined his blending skills for 3 years, before taking on the role of Master Blender at Edrington for Famous Grouse. In April 2022 he became the Master Blender at Suntory Global, first overseeing their Scotch portfolio and then in 2024 taking on their Irish portfolio as well. This is extraordinarily rare opportunity to pick Calum’s brain about how whiskies are made at Bowmore and the broader Suntory portfolio. Knowing how busy he is overseeing this vast portfolio, it is a bit humbling that he has agreed to take time on a Sunday to do this event with us. Calum will be joining us from Scotland, so to bridge the timezones, we will be starting at 8pm Scotland time, which is Noon Pacific / 3pm Eastern in the US. The lineup for this event is bonkers, 7 expressions total:
Bowmore Distillery Exclusive 25yo - Vintage 1997 - The Distiller’s Anthology #2. Available exclusively at the distillery in May of 2024. It was matured in first-fill American Oak ex-bourbon hogsheads. We secured two of the 2,728 bottles produced for this release. 47.8% abv.
Bowmore Distillery Exclusive - 20yo Hand Filled Mizunara Finish. This bottle was released during the 2024 Feis Ile festival, which about 15 of our members attended. It arrived unannounced in the middle of “Bowmore Day” — only those who happened to be standing vaguely in front of the gift shop in the afternoon had a shot at getting a bottle, as someone emerged with a stack of cards that would entitle the bearer to buy 1 bottle. This set off a near panic, especially when it became known this was a 20yo Mizunara Finish Bowmore bottling, but before anyone could read their messages, the bottles were all gone. We secured two bottles for the members. Distilled on the 15th of October, 2003, bottled on the 14th of May, 2024. Cask No. 3, 55.3% abv.
Bowmore Distillery Exclusive - Feis Ile 2024 19yo Commemorative Bottling. During Feis Ile, each distillery releases its official festival bottling, and with a couple exceptions (Laphroig, Ardbeg, Bunna), they are only available day of at the distillery during the festival. Bowmore’s release in 2024 was double matured in virgin American oak barrels, aged 19 years in total. Bottled at 54.8% abv.
Bowmore 22yo - Aston Martin Master’s Collection. Ok, finally a bottle that you can actually get your hands on, albeit not for cheap. This is the third release in this series of Aston Martin Master’s Collection bottles. Aged for 22 years in a combination of first-fill oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, bottled at cask strength. 51% abv.
3 Expressions in Bowmore’s Core Range - 18yo, 15yo and 12yo. Of course, Calum and his team oversee the creation of their classic core range bottlings, and we’re excited to get into the weeds with Calum to better understand what goes into their process of recreating (and recreating and recreating, ha) these iconic releases.
We hope you can join us. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
Cheers,
Drammers Club
WHEN: Sunday, May 18th at 8pm in Scotland, which is Noon Pacific / 3pm Eastern in the US
FORMAT: Online Tasting
ZOOM LINK / Meeting ID: 874 1212 0687 / Passcode: 051825