Originally posted on Barreled 2/6/19. Bowmore was my intro to Islay almost two years ago and I really liked the 12 yr. I’ve been wanting to get a hold of this bottle for quite a while and when Ace Spirits had it on sale for Burns Night I jumped on it. This 15 year expression is aged for 12 years in ex-bourbon barrels and then another 3 years in Oloroso sherry casks. It’s an absolutely gorgeous dark red/mahogany color in the glass. It’s bottled at 43% ABV and leaves a nice oily coating with abundant legs. Initially the nose had lots of sherry: dark fruits - raisins, grapes and blackberries, along with a fair amount of smoke. The smoke seemed to intensify after sitting in the glass for about 15 minutes. Really nice. Almost Lagavulin like. The palate was a little one dimensional after the nose with dry smoky red wine. It was really hard to pick any individual notes out of it. The finish was decently long with BBQ meats and a little pepper. This dram changed pretty significantly with the addition of just a 1/4 tsp of water. Although the water just about killed the nose, it balanced the palate by bringing out more of the sherry against the smoke. It also enhanced the finish somewhat in the same way. This whisky is very good, if not just a little one dimensional. The smoke was stronger than I remember with the 12. Unfortunately it’s almost too strong as it tends to overwhelm the sherry notes. Water seems to help this but weakens the wonderful nose. Overall it’s pretty good. I got this on sale at $76; I’m glad I didn’t pay full price. Good but not great. 3.75/5. Cheers