Back in 1988, in Glasgow, a special festival was held. It was the Garden Festival, a 0.49km zone that was "reclaimed" from the city's industrialized zone, and turned into a green area. Of course, Bowmore, as it often did in the 80s and 90s, released a special bottle for that event. The 10yo Bowmore 1988 Garden Festival is quite a rarity nowadays. It can only be found in the secondary market and it goes for around 550 dollars, which is a hefty amount for a 10 year old whisky. Pale straw color, 40%abv. On the nose it is a bakery. Bread, yeast. Citric meringue and burnt hay. Horse stable, burnt grass and Silicone. Lovely, very yeasty and buttery. There is a ghostly citric profile in the back. After a couple of sips the same notes intensified. Vanilla sponge cake. After a third sip it became "beachy":  salty, sandy. On the palate, it is very sweet. A vanilla wet cake, then after 5 seconds, gunpowder. A long time has passed since the last whisky that gave me the "gunpowder note; i thought i lost it, and i have now recovered it. Fireworks. After a first sip, it became even sweeter, then a minor salt bomb exploded.  It starts very sweet then it changes into some deep saltiness. Aftertaste seems to be a little straightforward. Salty, maritime. Quite long for a 10yo dram. Pepper and the salt used for grilling a steak. Overall, this legendary whisky is very straightforward and not complex at all, but that doesn't make it a bad single malt. It is actually very enjoyable and rewarding, but a little simple in my opinion. My score for it is a well deserved 82 over 100, and i believe that when it went for the original retail price, it wasn't a bad deal at all.