Bowmore 17 Year White Sands

This is a non-USA, travel retail exclusive that I added to an international order to help justify shipping costs. This 17 year old was supposedly aged in ex-bourbon oak casks. It’s antique gold in the taster, with heavy droplets and thick legs. The nose is lightly smoked and sulphuric- very reminiscent of a lot of Bowmore’s younger, core releases. There’s some toffee and cinnamon with some nice oak cask notes providing the backbone. The palate is malty, with caramel/toffee notes and a decent smoke wrapping things up. The finish is unfortunately short and malty with a surprising absence of barrel character. Overall, the name White Sands had me expecting briny and ocean salt notes, but none of that appeared here at all. It’s just a semi-boring Bowmore that feels more like a money grab than a special release. It suffers from the biggest complaint I can muster with Bowmore- sulphuric flavors due to lower ABV. It seems like every high-proof offering I’ve had from these guys does a great job of adding character while hiding the sulphuric notes. This falls victim to the same issue for me. 3 stars and at $82 for a bottle- it’s a hard pass. Cheers, my friends.

Creating reviews is hard thirsty work so I'm taking a break from uploading historic ones to actually having one. I like this dram. Creamy vanilla, lemon, pepper and smoke. None of the signature barbecue flavour but that's ok. Its a mellow dram and doesn't blow me away but I like it. 3.75