“Pepper With Stories, Sauce With Whisky, And Garnish With Laughter!” Mark Tay Helps Open Saigon’s Bowmore Boutique

The salty kiss of Islay’s Atlantic winds carries a biting breeze that’s shaped Bowmore Distillery for nearly two and a half centuries. Scotland’s oldest legal distillery on the legendary whisky island was founded in 1779, and Bowmore still sits immovable on the shores of Loch Indaal, where the distillery’s No. 1 Vaults — dug below sea level — cradle precious casks as ocean tides ebb and flow just meters away. It’s a legacy rich with stories, and currently Mark Tay is regaling us with a few during the launch of Bowmore’s Sherry Oak Cask Collection at the new Bowmore Boutique at the Sheraton Saigon Grand Opera Hotel.

All of his food references — the peppering, the saucing, and the garnishing — come from a career traversing the hospitality industry.

Mark Tay didn’t climb the traditional corporate ladder. He wandered through it like a hungry guest at an all-you-can-eat buffet, sampling everything: bartender, hotel kitchens and back-of-house operations, senior management, consultancy work, and three years in marketing for a Singapore club group that ran everything from Cantopop venues to fine dining restaurants.

Each stop, he says, taught him something different about how people connect with experiences.

When he wasn’t soaking it in professionally, “from just about every chef, sommelier and aficionado, who’d prove to be invaluable sources of information,” he’d have his head in Anthony Bourdain’s incendiary Kitchen Confidential, or Harold McGee’s seminal On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, or maybe Michel Roux’ Essence of French Cooking, or his Sauces: Savory & Sweet.

“But the best teacher in life is experience and eating and drinking whatever I can wherever I visit – and that teaches you the most about culture and history and the whole smorgasbord that lays in between.” 

“However, these days, if I’m back in Singapore, you’d most likely find me happily ensconced at home sipping on a dram of 15-year-old Bowmore with my family around me,” he confesses.

The Art of Whisky Storytelling

Right now, in his double-breasted suit, professorial round glasses, and whisky glass in hand, he’s running through a Bowmore presentation about Bowmore and its Sherry Oak Cask Collection with unruffled enthusiasm in front of two tables of dinner guests at the newly opened Bowmore Boutique at the Sheraton Saigon Grand Opera Hotel — the only one of its kind in Asia.

It’s no easy task considering the tables are filled with excitable bartenders, antsy whisky aficionados and chatty senior colleagues from Bowmore’s parent company, Beam Suntory.

Naturally, there are plenty of chances to stop and breathe in some Bowmore before sampling a dram or two. Occasionally too quickly, as a glass or two is downed ahead of schedule by the excitable attendees, prompting Mark to offer gentle rebukes with the practiced patience of someone who’s seen it all before. 

In fact, during these occasions, Mark often ditches the script entirely.

The next day, Mark elaborates on his approach. “When you were tasting the Bowmore Sherry Oak collection with me, you’d notice that I hardly described the flavors as shown on the tasting notes,” he reminds us. “Instead, I asked everyone lots of questions relating to their own interaction with the whisky.”

“What do you taste? What does it remind you of? Where does your mind go?”

Mark understands something many educators miss: people don’t remember what you tell them about any topic, whisky included. They remember what they discover about it themselves. So instead of reciting flavor profiles — honey, vanilla, maritime salt — he becomes a whisky therapist. What do you taste? What does it remind you of? Where does your mind go?

His philosophy is simple: “There is no right and there is no wrong in the description of flavors — just what you experience.” 

But then he drops knowledge like breadcrumbs. That savory wood smoke you’re tasting? Probably from the islands. Dark mahogany with cinnamon on the nose? Likely oloroso sherry casks. An overt lavender perfume? Welcome to 1980s distilling.

Tasting Bowmore — or any whisky, really — comes down to what Mark calls “the good feel.” Not the technical breakdown of esters and congeners, but that ineffable moment when depth and layers of flavor make you reach for the next sip without thinking about it.

It’s about balance: how the nose sets up the palate, how the flavors resolve into something that just feels right.

What Sets Bowmore Apart

What separates Bowmore from the pack – how its flavors resolve into something that feels just right – according to Mark, is that time changes everything for the better. “If I repeat any three messages about Bowmore the most, it’s that it’s exceptionally expressive, it ages like no other, and maybe that it’s artfully indulgent,” he smiles.

That’s because as the whisky ages, instead of becoming overtly oaky and one-dimensional, Bowmore’s signature Islay smoke doesn’t just mellow — it transforms completely. The smoldering complexity that dominates younger expressions gradually lightens, opening doors to tropical and savory notes that are unmistakably Bowmore.

“People expect older whisky to just be ‘more’ of the same thing,” Mark explains. “But with Bowmore, aging is about evolution, not amplification.”

Lost In Time 

It’s not only Mark who’s been ditching the script. Bowmore itself has some pretty significant gaps in its story — starting with how it got its name.

For a distillery that’s been around since 1779, you’d think the origin story would be well-documented. But being Scotland’s oldest legal distillery on Islay, some details got lost to time. Even the name ‘Bowmore’ appears in the records without clear explanation. Nobody really knows where it came from.

“The name Bogha Mor is still used on the island. You see it on a street sign when heading from Port Ellen towards Bowmore,” Mark explains. While there are theories about references to a sunken rock, a black rock, and a great reef, there hasn’t been any one truly traceable definition of the name.

“However, when I’ve stood at the door of Kilarrow Parish Church and looked down the slope towards Loch Indaal, I realize that no matter the name or theories of origins, the town of Bowmore embodies the very essence of the whisky that bears its name — quiet yet bold, sleepy yet alive, brooding yet expressive,” he reflects. “Every time I take a sip of Bowmore, it brings me to that memory and I feel grounded.”

It’s a place he fondly recalls, with “miles and miles of natural peat bogs, flocks of sheep on the fields, more Greenland Barnacle Geese than humans, a family of stags peeking from rock crevices, all set against the misty peaks of Beinn Bheigeir.”

And, happily for someone with such a rich culinary background, some of the tastiest scallops, brown crabs and urchins off the coast north of Laphroaig, and some of the best sea salt in the world on the west coast at Machir Bay.

Treasures From The Vaults 

Recently, Bowmore has been digging into the vault for some very special releases. Take the Bowmore X Aston Martin – ARC-52, which saw the distillery partner with Aston Martin’s engineers and designers on a 100-bottle release. Mark got to taste it, providing one of two unforgettable moments he’s had with Bowmore.

“The nose of passionfruit and ripe pineapples drew me in first — remarkable for a 52-year-old whisky,” he smiles.

The other moment, he recalls, was when Daryl Haldane — Bowmore’s Global Private Client Director — presented an unusually dark sample of Bowmore during a tasting with a client. “The first sip and I’m getting nuances of cocoa nibs, ripe cherries and a hint of shortbread amidst a lingering whiff of peat. It was tear-jerking,” he admits unashamedly.

He later learned that both whiskies came from the same cask — one that’s come to be known as the Bowmore STAC 1962 55-year-old, the oldest the distillery has ever released.

A Personal Connection to Whisky

Nostalgia, of course, means different things to different people. Mark partly grew up in the UK, trailing his dad around the world wherever work took him. That also meant he’d spend most of his days with his beloved nanny.

“She used to toast a small piece of bread over a grill, spread a small amount of chocolate on it, then grate some twirls of orange peel on top over a couple of raisins,” he reminisces. “Many years later as I began to explore whiskies, I partook of a bottle of Bowmore 15-years-old and it immediately brought me back to afternoons with my nan, with its dark, juicy spice notes and its hints of toasted bread and orange.”

When he’s not in Vietnam opening boutiques or hosting tastings, Mark’s calendar revolves around three key whisky events. 

There’s Fèis Ìle, whcih celebrates Islay’s culture through music and malt every late May, “with each distillery getting a dedicated day to share their story and release festival exclusives you won’t find anywhere else.” 

The Spirit of Speyside Festival in May honors Scotland’s whisky heartland and its 51 working distilleries through hundreds of micro-events, tastings, and education courses scattered across the region. “I keep returning because I’ve never managed to complete the entire route,’ he shrugs.

Then there’s Whisky Journey Singapore, the new player bringing global whiskies under one roof for a weekend. “If Scotland’s too far, Singapore’s your next best bet. This November marks the third edition, where collectible rarities sit alongside daily drams – last year they poured Bowmore 12 through to 25-year expressions next to 40-year Vault Vintages alongside Suntory’s Tsukuriwake 2024 collection.”

Why Vietnam, Why Now?

It’s a sequence of events which brings us back to Asia, home to 60% of the world’s population, and a place where consumers have developed increasingly sophisticated palates for products like Scotch whisky. The numbers tell the story: 2024 marked the year Asia overtook the EU in whisky demand and consumption.

“Vietnam represents something special within this landscape. The country’s Scotch whisky scene isn’t just growing – it’s exploding,” Mark notes. 

And so this Bowmore Boutique at the Sheraton Saigon Grand Opera Hotel isn’t about convenience; it’s about proximity to a rapidly maturing community of whisky connoisseurs and collectors who deserve more than mail-order and hand-carried experiences.

A Toast to New Beginnings

Upon the boutique’s opening, Mark quoted a Scottish blessing that captures his philosophy perfectly. “I borrowed the first stanza from the traditional wedding Quaich ceremony then added the second stanza as my own,” he explains. “Whisky to me is an experience to be shared and be they friends new or old, this shared experience binds us in the moment.” 

‘Strike hands with me, the glasses brim, the dew is on the heather. For love is good, and life is long, and two are best together,’ he’d written, before finishing in his own inimitable freestyle: ‘For thee can’t past a moment long, when thee has not a’withered. Doth uisque flows from Islay fair, my glass needs just another!’

In the traditional blessing, the first stanza alludes to the spring of a new journey of two people who begin with abundance. “In his second stanza, is the solemn prayer that as we traverse life together before we pass on, we will always be able to enjoy the beautiful whiskies that fair Islay will continue to offer up, like the Bowmore X Aston Martin – ARC-52,” he adds.

It’s a fitting sentiment for someone who’s spent his career understanding that the best experiences aren’t just tasted — they’re shared. And in Saigon’s newest whisky sanctuary, every dram comes with a story, every story builds a connection, and every connection deepens the appreciation for what makes Bowmore extraordinary. 

After all, as Mark would say, whisky is a conversation, not a lecture.