Bowmore 12 Year

Sweet on the nose; caramel, vanilla, baked bread. Incredibly smooth with tasting notes of peat and slightly salted caramel finish.

The nose is sweet with overlapping caramel and vanilla, with a hint of salt underneath. Palette is warm and soft, followed by moderate peat on the back of the throat. Finish is lingering smoke and is incredibly smooth, with no burn at all.

The nose is light and pleasant with an immediate waft of lemon and sweet nutty malt, black pepper with hints of peat, but not really smokey or phenolic as other Islay single malts. There is some notable oak and light leather on there as well. But after a few sips the lemon morphs into a orange marmalade among other darker notes. The palate is nicer and oily, bitter tea, nutty malt, orange marmalade. The finish is long with lingering peat smoke that becomes more phenolic/iodine as it goes. There’s also orange marmalade, a spicy chili sensation on the back of the palate along with a bitter earthyness. This one is pretty unique for how light it initially comes across. It’s very interesting how the very prominent lemon note totally changes overtime into orange marmalade. Also, I didn’t get hardly any peat in the palate but notice it most on the long finish. Adding just a few drops of water really changed this one. It made it more creamy and oily in texture with an extended orange marmalade note and increase in ashy smoke. This one offers enough complexity to keep things interesting. I would also suggest this as a gateway to those curious about peated single malts.

Light smoke, a little weak on the finish. Has alright taste but missing some character. Tastes of alcohol, missing the sweet and deep caramel flavours of a good aged scotch. Okay, but would much prefer the Glenlivet 12 for slightly more money.. 6.7/10