Head to head · same category, comparable price
Bowmore 12 Year Old vs Laphroaig Quarter Cask
Bowmore 12 Year Old is the cheaper bottle and the dearer whisky: £136 a litre of pure alcohol against £131. That inversion is the whole of this comparison.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Bowmore 12 Year Old | Laphroaig Quarter Cask | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Single malt |
| Origin | Islay, Scotland | Islay, Scotland |
| Age | 12 years | No age statement |
| Strength | 40% ABV | 48% ABV |
| Cask | American oak ex-bourbon cask, European oak Oloroso sherry cask | Ex-bourbon barrel, American oak quarter cask |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £38 | £44 |
| Per 10cl | £5.43 | £6.29 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £136 | £131 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both Islay whiskies, from different distilleries.
Bowmore 12 Year Old states 12 years; Laphroaig Quarter Cask states none.
Cask as each producer describes it: Bowmore 12 Year Old in american oak ex-bourbon cask and european oak oloroso sherry cask, Laphroaig Quarter Cask in ex-bourbon barrel and american oak quarter cask.
Neither states chill filtration.
Neither set of specifications is producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Laphroaig Quarter Cask is £6.00 dearer a bottle than Bowmore 12 Year Old.
Strength reverses that: Bowmore 12 Year Old is £136 a litre of pure alcohol against £131.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Bowmore 12 Year Old is 16th cheapest and Laphroaig Quarter Cask 12th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Bowmore 12 Year Old | Laphroaig Quarter Cask |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 6 | 9 |
| Sweet | 6 | 4 |
| Fruity | 5 | 3 |
| Spicy | 4 | 6 |
| Woody | 5 | 6 |
| Sherried | 5 | 1 |
| Cereal | 5 | 4 |
| Oily | 6 | 8 |
Furthest apart on sherried, 5 against 1, then peaty, 6 against 9. 2 of the eight axes clear 3 points: sherried and peaty.
Each bottle in its own right
Bowmore 12 Year Old
Sea salt, lemon and gentle smoke over sherried fruit. The most balanced entry-level Islay.
Bowmore is precise about wood and silent on strength — its page specifies hand-selected ex-bourbon and Oloroso casks while stating no ABV anywhere. Not to be confused with the separate Bowmore 12 Sherry Oak Cask SKU.
Full record →Laphroaig Quarter Cask
Laphroaig with the volume up — more oak, more sweetness, considerably more grip at 48%.
Double matured: standard ex-bourbon barrels, then re-racked into smaller quarter casks whose greater wood-to-spirit surface area speeds maturation. Laphroaig publishes no ABV, and one UK retailer lists 41.4% — that is a data error; 48% is confirmed by two independent retailers.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Bowmore 12 Year Old for peat curious and all-rounder, Laphroaig Quarter Cask for value at 48% and peat lovers.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Bowmore 12 Year Old and Laphroaig Quarter Cask: bowmore.com, laphroaig.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.