Bowmore 25y “Opportunity Cost” @ The Blackbird

 

Ahh travelling. A thing we did. For work or visiting, who knew how much we’d miss simply not being in the place where we are… in… from… at. (A good linguist can end a sentence on every preposition. Screw you, prescriptive grammarians!)

Anyway, in the long long ago i used to get paid to flit around the country and do tech things. On one of the last trips, a sushi-and-justice focused trip to Vancouver, I stopped in at a combination barber shop/whisky bar, because who doesn’t want to pick clipped hairs out of your cocktail.

This testament to fusion is around the corner from the weird French Asian hotel I like as well as a genuine Covid-vector strip club that got, uh, busted for not social distancing at the beginning of the pandemic. High pun five. It’s also all across the street from La Tacqueria Pinche Taco Shop which is the best place on earth to spend $20.

The Prickly Peach (that’s what I’d call the combo barber/whisky place that’s next to a strip club) offers a whole bunch of whiskies and whiskeys, or at least they did before Covid when they were open. (Google says The Blackbird is temporarily closed; here’s hoping they bounce back after all this) The thing that caught my eye was a Bowmore 25y, because I’m a true, cheap-ass Scot and I wanted to try something halfway through its third decade. They called it their “opportunity cost” whisky – there was a spiel that apparently didn’t stick – the upshot being “pay 17 bucks to try a $470 whisky” and I did, I got the last double. And it was truly amazing.

Nose – Sherry sharp smoke, meat, pepper, pepperette

Neat – Slick, wood, chest warmth, subtle book and leather but also full pepper

Finish – a little coating, but warm, bittersweet

Splash – I can’t

Overall – 8.5/10

Bowmore 25y – 43% – ~$35.00 + tip – Islay

Try it? If you have the opportunity. Buy it? Honestly if you’re reading this I don’t think you can.

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