Where’s the peat? The smoke? The islay? Perhaps mellowed by the 15 years in the barrel…yes, there’s wood spice and tannin in there to be sure. That’s quite nice actually. Perhaps it’s been filtered and colored and watered away…unfortunately true on all counts. This initially tastes more like bourbon than scotch, all vanilla and caramel with a slight bit of salt and smoke on the finish to remind you that you are in fact in the Hebrides. For me and probably many others Bowmore is the forgotten islay stepchild and they don’t do themselves any favors with this product.