Uncharted Whisky, One Way Or Another, Bowmore 21 Year Old

Key Facts About This Single Malt Scotch

Bottler: Uncharted Whisky Company

Founders: Jack Breslin and Dana de Vos

Release: One Way Or Another

Distillery: Bowmore

Region: Islay, Scotland

Age: 21 years

Distilled: August 2004

Bottled: August 2026 

Cask Type: Refill bourbon barrel

Cask Ref: UC066

Alcohol by Volume: Cask strength at 51.3%

Outturn: 261 Bottles

Bottle Size: 700ml

Bottled: Natural colour and non chill filtered

Bowmore 21 Year Old Tasting Notes

Nose: Mango! Tropical fruit juice, unctuous & heady. The peat is gentle and coastal without any hint medicine at all.

Palate: The texture is thick. Tropical fruits abound. It is salty but the peat element has been smoothed by time. Oak is present without overpowering or being too dry. Fabulous.

Finish: The tropical fruit is the first thing to arrive & the last to go. The peat, salt, oak and spice all jostle for position in the middle. What a dram.

About this Uncharted Whisky

Coveted by indie bottlers and Islay whisky lovers alike. For years, Bowmore spirit was nigh on impossible to get one's hands on but now… we have two from Uncharted Whisky. Two different ages, two different wood types, two ways to experience Islay’s most prestigious distillery. This release is 21 years old,  refill bourbon maturation, and at natural cask strength 51.3%.

What Set’s This Apart?  

Variation. Natural variation. It’s ideal for colour, flavour, and ABV to change because fans of Indie releases want a natural product presented exactly as it is - Jack and Dana at Uncharted call it minimal intervention whisky (to borrow a term from the wine world who recognised the people’s desire a long time before Scotch did!). So what’s different? The unique nature of these particular casks #13 and #14, the colour, the natural cask strength, the age, and the chance to try two sister bottlings side by side - One Way Or Another.

What’s In A Name?

Jack and Dana love a rock n roll reference, and these two sister bottlings allow you to experience spirit born of the same stills but maturated differently, for different periods of time, producing indie Bowmore “One Way Or Another”.

The Specifics?

Uncharted had two casks of 2004 Bowmore but they didn’t want to vat them together so they are offering 2 single cask bottlings – casks #13 and #14. Distilled on the 26th of August 2004 (where were you then eh?), this was bottled at 21 years old, 3 weeks shy of it’s 22nd birthday. These two casks are remarkably similar having been distilled on the same day and matured in refill ex-Jim Beam wood. Interestingly, #13 is marked as “Clermont Spings Distillery Co 2011” as opposed to the #14 which is labelled at “Jim Beam”. This hints that #13 might have been in circulation longer than the other as Clemont Springs is a historical name for Jim Beam which is no longer used the same way. It also indicates a re-racking or vatting prior to Uncharted’s custody of these casks.

The Flavour

The way time has mellowed the Bowmore spirit is amazing. It SO mango forward. It is so interesting to taste side-by-side with the 11 year old sister bottling. The peat is alive but mellowed by time and melted into the delicate oak and seaside spray. Bottled the first week in August 2026, this release is natural cask strength and colour. There’s 261 bottles from cask #13 which they are releasing first for no reason other than it was bottled first.