"Which part of the label drew you in the most?"
"Has to be the bird."
"Really? I don't know about that."
"Nah, it's the bird, for sure." "Yep, it's the bird." "It's definitely the bird."
That was Friday night in a nutshell over at Singapore's Swan Song Bar, the watering hole in the CBD where everyone eventually finds themselves at as the night progresses. Journalists, bankers, event planners, lawyers, fitness trainers, heck, even the bartenders from other bars end up here. And somehow the star of the night was this special bottling of a 22 Year Old 2004 Bowmore that was bottled by the fun loving Thompson Bros (of Dornoch Distillery) for Bar Lotus.
Bar Lotus in Kingsland, Dalston, London.
Whilst Bar Lotus is perhaps most well known for its Kingsland, Dalston, London address, opening its doors in 2023 and quickly making quite the splash with an enviable collection of vintage and holy grail blue chip Scotch, Chichibu Japanese whiskies, and its exotic Asian inspired cocktails (utilising the likes of hojicha, yuzu, ube, pandan and the like), the bar is in fact one of seven, with the other six locations in China (Chengdu was the first, with then also Shanghai, Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Shenzhen and Aranya) - the London outpost is therefore the group's first international location. Founded in 2014 by Derek Wang, who by trade served as a designer and hospitality consultant (responsible for the food and beverage program for Maison Margiela's Shanghai cafe) having already found success with his popular specialty coffee brand Small Company Coffee, Bar Lotus was originally conceived as a dual cafe-bar concept that was designed for an urban context - artisanal coffee sanctuary by day and avant garde mixology space by night. This turned out to be quite the hit and would embolden Wang to scale the concept across culturally important cities across China, before then hopping over to London. This has so far appeared to be a pretty spot on move given that the Bar Lotus brand had up till that point largely achieved recognition but locally, with then the London spot giving the group a serious touchpoint for the rest of the world.
Bar Lotus founder Derek Wang.
It's pretty clear then that this is but just the start for Bar Lotus, and we should hopefully see more to come in the years to follow as it continues to mount its great ascent!
The Thompson Bros on the other side of this collaboration perhaps needs little introduction - Phil and Simon Thompson who can be found up in Sutherlands in the Scottish highlands. With dreams of starting their own distillery, the two brothers would very industriously hit the ground running first with their own line of independently bottled whiskies (and rums and Cognacs too, with also their own award winning distilled gin) that quickly gained a cult following for both their fun labels and quality contents. This gave the Thompson brothers a massive community to tap into and would of course help to materially fund the putting together of their Dornoch Distillery, which finally became a reality in 2016. With their ethos being to create single malt whiskies using a combination of both traditional and modern techniques, along with the use of heritage barley varieties such as Plumage Archer and local brewers yeast, they have certainly carved out palpable anticipation for their whiskies, which has increasingly commanded their attention and have begun being released to the public.
And so with that said, we get down to taste testing this very attractive Bowmore number that's been distilled in 2004 and aged for 22 years in a Refill Barrel, before being bottled in 2026 at 51% ABV.
Let's go!
PS. We unfortunately don't know what the mysterious but incredibly cute symbols on the label are a reference to! If you do know, please feel free to let us in on it! All we know is it was designed by Coco (Instagram: co_co9691)!
Whisky Review: Thompson Bros x Bar Lotus 2004 Bowmore, 22 Year Old, 51% ABV
Tasting Notes
Colour: Straw
Aroma: It opens floral and honeyed, rather luscious, with wafts of acacia honey layered over delicate tropical and stone fruits of guava, apricots and quince, topped with bristles of lavender. The richer, almost syrupy top note is backed by a more supple body of cream, with then underlying tones of Sherry, in the form of leather, stewed plums, prunes and a savouriness of burnt brown sugar. There's a wispy veil of smoke too, and a light touch of hay and farmhouse rusticity. With time, the tropical guava aromatics intensify, combining with the other scents to give an array of grilled guavas to guavas topped with cream.
Taste: Medium-bodied here, it's as rich and luscious as one might suspect from the aromas, creamy and honeyed, bolstered with deeper and darker tones of brown sugar, leather, lacquered wood, dried plums and prunes, with then also lighter tones of grilled guavas and apricots. It's alittle candied, rather savoury, with bolder bits of burnt brown sugar.
Finish: Marvellously, a most intense core of grilled guavas is revealed, as are grilled apricots, smoky, savoury, paired with chunks of burnt brown sugar, a farmhouse funkiness, with also well worn leather sofas. The finish is long, smoky and ashy, with now a prominent bitterness of char and medicinal roots. It digs down to a deep and all encompassing warmth, with a touch of musty rancio.
My Thoughts
A really poised and elegant Bowmore that's understatedly complex and more significant than it might appear on the surface. It's delicate yet hides in plain sight a more compact and bodied, really luscious body that asks for time and attention in revealing itself. It's charming with its angles, a touch of the unexpected, yet beguilingly familiar. What was particularly delightful was how the tropical fruits would readily enmesh itself with the other flavors to yield expressive secondary notes that were deeply satisfying. That said, I suspect more air time might give this a whole new outlook with what feels like the potential for an unyielding vibrance of its accompanying brighter tropical fruit tones and deeper seemingly Sherried qualities particularly at the mid-palate which at the moment seems alittle uncharacteristically austere.
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
