Why the Arc-54, Bowmore distillery’s final rare collaboration with Aston Martin, is worth collecting

Blending aged whiskies from different casks can be tricky, especially when working with a handful of casks. That was what Dr Calum Fraser, chief blender of single malt Scotch distillery, Bowmore, faced when crafting the Bowmore Arc-54, one of the oldest whiskies produced by the Islay distillery.

The 54-year-old expression caps off the limited edition Arc series, which is part of a six-year partnership with British luxury automobile manufacturer, Aston Martin. 

Speaking to The Peak Singapore in Raffles London at The OWO, where the Bowmore Arc-54 was launched, Fraser recalls a key challenge of concocting the long-awaited single malt: “We were literally down to a handful of casks in our inventory that are older than 50 years old, so the pressure was on with sweat on our brows.”

Those casks were among the distillery’s oldest that started their lives in the storied No. 1 Vaults at Bowmore, the oldest whisky distillery on the idyllic peat-filled island in Scotland. 

The Bowmore Arc-54 launched in early April with 130 bottles available worldwide. Six bottles were allocated to two key Southeast Asian markets — five in Singapore and one in Vietnam. Each bottle is priced at $110,000. 

Distilled in 1968, the whisky has been matured in casks including a second-fill European oak sherry butt and a third-fill American oak hogshead. Inspired by the Golden Ratio, which Aston Martin adheres to in the design of its cars, the whisky comprises 61.8 per cent European oak-aged spirit and 38.2 per cent American oak-aged spirit. Both parts were later unified for 15 months in an American oak cask. 

On the marriage of the two types of casks, Fraser says: “American oak gives soft, sweet vanilla-like notes that allow the fruitiness of the distillate to come through at the backdrop, while the European oak element is more tannic, rich and has a more woody character. Combining the spirits made in the two types of cask, the wood helps the fresh and tropical fruit aroma and flavours evolve.” 

He also credits his predecessors with choosing to age the whiskies in refill casks, which softens the spirit’s woody character and allows the citrus and floral notes to be accentuated. 

The gold-hued liquid offers aromas of vanilla and butterscotch that evolve to tropical mango and peaches. On the palate, there is a sweet richness of green apple, citric notes of bergamot orange and lime juice, complemented by ginger and cinnamon and a gentle peat smoke finish — a landmark style of Bowmore’s whiskies.

Fraser worked with Bowmore’s previous master blender, Ron Welsh, who oversaw the launch of the Bowmore Arc-52 in 2022 at the tail-end of creating the Arc-54. He says: “With a few more years in the cask, the Arc-54 has a more intense tropical fruit aroma, with hints of mint and eucalyptus. There are more nuanced flavours, too.” 

Also drawing inspiration from Aston Martin’s design ethos is the Arc-54’s hand-blown, fluid-looking decanter, which is inspired by the aerodynamic nature of the exterior of an Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar and the terroir of Islay, characterised by vast peat bogs and rugged hills.

Steeped in tradition

During a visit to Bowmore Distillery, named after the sleepy capital of Islay, I saw how whisky-making traditions are still being upheld in the 240-year-old distillery. Bowmore is one of the few distilleries that actively practises floor malting, in which up to 14 tonnes of Scottish barley grains are sprawled across the entire malting floor.

A robust, malty, and nutty aroma permeates the room, ankle-deep in barley grains. During the malting process, the grains produce starch and sugar, and maltmen have to plough the bed of grains with a grubber every four hours to prevent them from germinating. 

Floor-malted barley grains contribute to about one-third of the grains used in Bowmore’s production process, which amounted to about 2.2 million litres of whisky in 2024.

After the grains produce an optimal amount of sugar, they are transferred to a room above by buckets in a pulley system, where they are smoked over peat for 10 hours. One of the distillery’s newest pieces of equipment is a milling machine from the 1960s, which grinds barley grains into grist before water and yeast are added in the massive wooden washbacks during fermentation.

A spirit safe, traditionally used to calculate the amount of alcohol in the spirit for tax purposes, still resides next to the copper stills in the stillhouse.

Bowmore’s whiskies are known for their slightly briny character — a result of the whiskies maturing in the cold and damp conditions of the No. 1 Vaults, where the Atlantic sea spray washes against the sea-facing walls of the warehouse. 

Science meets art 

Fraser takes pride in maintaining the distillery quality of Bowmore Arc-54 as he leads the Scotch blending team at Suntory Global Spirits, Bowmore’s parent company. 

Armed with a master’s degree in Forensics and Analytical Chemistry and a PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Fraser says that his career trajectory has been an unconventional one. After transiting from the pharmaceutical industry 14 years ago, he worked at other Scotch houses like Johnnie Walker and Royal Salute.

However, the Scotsman believes that blending whisky is an art and science. He says: “The aromas and flavours of whisky come from chemical reactions between the new-make spirit and the cask. With my scientific background, I have an analytical approach to creating new expressions. It starts from looking at various percentages that go into creating a new recipe.”

As a master blender, he noses around 200 samples of spirits daily, from new-make spirit to whiskies. Having worked at Suntory for the past three years, he is also the quality custodian of other Scotch labels within the group, such as Laphroaig and Auchentoshan. 

He says with a chuckle: “Believe it or not, one thing that I’ve benefited from working in a science laboratory is detecting aromas — good ones and more importantly, bad aromas, so that they do not go into an expression.”

Hailing from an unusual background, Fraser brings a breath of fresh air when concocting whisky. Over the years, his team has experimented with changing the production variables, such as increasing the floor-malted barley ratio and fermentation time, to see how Bowmore’s signature style can evolve.

Bowmore also has “an extensive trial program”, in which whiskies are matured in different types of casks, such as French and Mizunara casks, and casks seasoned with varying kinds of tipples. For example, Bowmore Appellations, a travel retail series, has whiskies matured in casks seasoned with fine wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, and the Douro Valley in Portugal. 

In June, Bowmore launched its Sherry Oak Collection in Singapore. It comprises 12, 15, and 18 Year Old whiskies finished in Spanish oak casks seasoned with Oloroso or Pedro Ximenez sherry.

He shares that the new collection was sparked by consumer demand, who desired a stronger sherry element in Bowmore whiskies. He says: The 12 & 15 Year Old feature more of the richness, dried fruit and cinnamon spices, while the 18 Year Old, which showcase Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, are more indulgent and have more complex notes.” 

For his efforts in advancing the quality and character of Scotch whiskies, Fraser was inducted as a Keeper of the Quaich in March. The internationally recognised honour recognises individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Scotch industry. 

On what keeps him thrilled to be part of the industry, he reflects: “It is more than looking after the past and the present, but also setting Bowmore up for the future. I may not get to see through some of the whiskies that I am working on now, but this fulfilling job comes with an excitement that transcends generations.”