There are collaborations that make you raise an eyebrow, and then there are those that make you reach for your wallet. Bowmore's partnership with Aston Martin has produced several releases now, and this 21 Year Old Masters' Selection from 2021 sits comfortably in the latter category. At 51.8% ABV and carrying over two decades of Islay maturation, this is a bottle that commands attention — and at £465, it had better deliver.
Bowmore is one of those distilleries that divides opinion. It occupies a curious middle ground on Islay — less medicinal than Laphroaig, less briny than Lagavulin, but unmistakably peated. That characteristic Bowmore maritime smoke, tempered by age, is what makes their older expressions so compelling. Twenty-one years in cask is long enough for the spirit to develop genuine complexity while retaining the coastal backbone that defines the distillery's house style. The cask strength bottling at 51.8% is a welcome decision — it means nothing has been diluted or chill-filtered into polite submission.
Tasting Notes
I'll reserve detailed tasting notes for a future update when I can sit with this dram properly and give it the attention it deserves. What I will say is that Bowmore at this age and strength tends to offer a rich interplay between tropical fruit sweetness and that signature violet-tinged peat smoke. The Aston Martin Masters' Selection releases have generally drawn from carefully chosen cask combinations, and at 21 years old, you should expect a whisky that has shed any youthful rough edges while keeping genuine depth and weight on the palate.
The Verdict
The Aston Martin branding will inevitably attract scepticism — and frankly, it should. Too many luxury collaborations are exercises in packaging rather than liquid quality. But Bowmore have been smart here. They haven't slapped a car badge on a standard bottling and tripled the price. This is a cask strength 21 year old single malt from one of Islay's oldest distilleries, and that alone puts it in serious territory. The £465 price tag is steep, but it is not outrageous for a whisky of this age and strength from a distillery with Bowmore's pedigree. You are paying a premium for the presentation and the limited nature of the release, certainly, but the liquid inside the bottle has genuine substance behind it. I'd score this 8.2 out of 10 — a confident, well-aged Islay single malt that justifies its position on the shelf, even if the branding isn't what drew you to it.
Best Served
Pour it neat and leave it alone for ten minutes. A whisky bottled at 51.8% needs time to open up and settle in the glass. After that initial rest, add a few drops of water — no more — and let it breathe further. The water will unlock layers that the cask strength keeps tightly wound on first pour. This is not a whisky for cocktails or even a Highball. It is a whisky for a quiet evening, a comfortable chair, and your full attention. If you have spent £465 on a bottle, you owe it that much.
