Black Bowmore 'Archive' to be Presented in Landmark Offering

Twenty-seven years since its first release, Black Bowmore has become legendary within whisky circles, both as a hallmark of the distillery’s house style and as a highly desirable collector’s item. Sotheby’s, in partnership with Bowmore, will offer the only opportunity to acquire the complete Black Bowmore single malt whisky collection in a bespoke and unique cabinet direct from the Bowmore distillery.

Five archive bottles of Black Bowmore, spanning 1993 to 2016, will be offered by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in the spring of 2021. The bottles will be presented in a truly unique bespoke piece of furniture created by award-winning craftsman John Galvin. Estimated at a value of HK$4,000,000 (US$500,000 / £400,000), the Black Bowmore ‘Archive Cabinet’ will form the centrepiece of the Finest & Rarest Wines and Spirits auction. The winning bidder will be invited to the Bowmore distillery for a tasting of Bowmore’s rarest and oldest single malts, with proceeds from the sale donated to an Islay charity.

The one-of-a-kind handcrafted archive cabinet showcases authentic items and materials from the Bowmore distillery, connected to the legend of “black”. An original Bowmore Spirits safe was used in its construction, making the cabinet a completely unique piece never to be replicated.

The bottles are showcased to spectacular effect as they are placed inside on hand-blown glass pillars, each in varying heights corresponding to the age of the whiskies. The front of the pillars are highly polished, to create a vertical window to the inside of each pillar that reveals bubbles running vertically. Capturing the passage of time, the bubbles at the bottom are crystal clear to represent the newly made spirit slowly changing colour from yellow, dark red brown and finally black.

Once the exterior of the cabinet had been carved to mimic patterns in sand created by the movement of water rushing out to sea at low tide, an ancient Japanese technique was used to char its surface to resemble the inside of a cask. Featuring Scottish oak, custom cask solid bronze, and drawers constructed from the original pine wash back staves and brass whisky safe sourced from the distillery, the cabinet has been handcrafted at every stage of its production.

This unique lot will also include a book which details the journey of Black Bowmore over its five releases and the creation of the cabinet.

A complete distillery owned collection of Black Bowmore from “First Edition” to “Last Cask” (1993-2016):