Bowmore 15 Year

Fantastic! Salty and sweet, with a hint of smoke. Aftertaste of vanilla and cherries. Way too easy to drink.

Well, there isn't much to say except, I don't like it. I opened it a few days ago and the nose was sulphuric and astringent. After leaving it a few days the nose is still the same. The palate on the other hand isn't bad. There is a nice peat opening on a bed of chocolate covered cherries. Unfortunately, it is milk chocolate and not dark chocolate. Sadly, hovering all the time in the background is the sulphur taste. The finish is a bit of sherry and a slight peaty woft. This is just not a good whisky. My second Bowmore recently and I have to say they are a big disappointment. My first whisky ever was a brash peaty smoke-filled Bowmore 8 year old. I miss that whisky.

I bought this Bowmore 15 a while ago to add to my collection of sherry finished whiskies and based on their website's touting of two golds and a silver metal in 2016 (Int'l Spirits Challenge, San Francisco World Spirit's Competition, & Int'l Wine and Spirits Competition). Lagavulin DE was a big hit with me and I was hoping this Islay would strike a similar chord. Bowmore describes the color of this spirit as dark amber, which they attribute to 12 years in select American bourbon and 3 years in oloroso sherry. It looks a little synthetic; however, the nose is quite pleasant with a fruity alcoholic mixture one could inhale endlessly. A drying glencairn will produce a plush aroma of antique hardwoods. The palate was dry and a little flat, reminiscent of an oloroso sherry that only has about 1% of the sugar that would be found in a pedro ximenez. I found the spirit devoid of smokiness on both nose and palate and a little disappointing in that regard, but not surprising given sherry’s ability to sometimes negate peat influence. The finish was short and unremarkable. Overall, a fairly pleasant dram but not up to par for an Islay. I rate it at 3 stars.

Good for the price deep flavor