Bowmore 12 Year

Quite possibly the worst named and age-stated Islay single malt out there. Nose: Extinguished campfire, sour salt, flattened citrus, faded vanilla, wet cardboard. Malt husks! Taste: Exactly the same as the nose, plus a deceptive hint of heavily spent sherry that disappears as soon as you think you've found it. You think it's there, but it's not really there at all. Finish: Medium, spicy, charred barrel, hints of sherry. This is actually the best part of the whole experience. Not a bad finish. Final thoughts: in a blind tasting I would never guess this is an Islay. This smells and tastes like one of those no-name releases from some island they won't tell you about, because they're too ashamed to admit they dug this stuff up in an abandoned warehouse that nobody wanted anymore. Given this is actually an official bottling of a 12-year-old single malt from Islay, this is simply a complete disaster and even an embarrassment - yes, I'm going that far with this! Have you tried McClelland's Islay? This here is the same thing, except it's 12 years old. Did you know that Bowmore actually produces McClelland's Islay? Which is all you should need to understand that they no longer care about their reputation. They just want to spend less and sell more. A real shame to see an Islay distillery fall this low. If you're wondering, my bottling is from 31.08.21. I was curious if I got a bad batch or something, so I did some research and found an interesting review of Bowmore's 12, 15 and 18 single malts on Malt Review, back from August 2020. Unsurprisingly, they were all rated 3/10. Shame!

Salty, Briney and decently pester. Not too Smokey, and just perfectly sweet (not overly). The consistency is almost buttery, but add a couple drops of water, opens up nicely.

Citrus, ocean, brine, vanilla and peat notes make this a compelling dram.

An all-time favourite