Let me start this review off with the best advice I can give: DO NOT BUY this whisky. If you are the type of person that just looks at Star Level ratings or hope for a quick synopsis before making a purchasing decision you can stop here. 1 star and a Do Not Buy recommendation. Do you want an explanation or hear more. Continue on.... This Bowmore 10 year whisky is a limited, travel retail exclusive. They must’ve added the Dark & Intense subtitle to it in hopes they’d lure in the suckers. (Yeah, I know...they got me, for starters. Hush up.). This particular release is bottled at 40%, has added color and is also chill filtered. It’s sold in one liter bottles for a reasonable $30-35. Hey, that’s not bad. Oh, but it is. Let’s address the Dark & Intense moniker in detail: DARK- yes, it’s a dark cherry in color. It’s watery and leaves behind fat legs and big drops when you play with it in your tasting glass. The problem here, obviously, is that Bowmore decided to add colorant to this. So, it’s not naturally dark. It’s FAKE dark. Bad Bowmore, bad. INTENSE- well, it’s got an age statement of 10 years. That sometimes leads to intense flavors because it’s still quite young. It could be a little aggressive because it needs more time in the barrel, they could’ve chosen a first fill cask and flooded the malt with intense sherry or ex-bourbon flavors. Nope. Neither of those happened here. Instead, they blended the ABV down to 40% in an attempt to wring out a higher bottle count. So, it’s NOT intense, at all. It’s weak. Bad Bowmore, very bad. Here’s the tasting notes, if you’re interested and still reading along: NOSE: light peat, distant sherry flavors, no oak, no heat, and worst of all no smoke. PALATE: lack of peat, light sherry and a brutal cough syrup consistency and flavor on the tongue. It’s a tiny bit harsh with an artificial tasting sweetness. FINISH: it’s pretty short, with nothing lingering except some light berry sweetness and a simple, sugary mouth coat. Overall, no scotch drinker, from a noob to a well-seasoned connoisseur, should waste their time or money with this bottle. I added it to a small, international order as a filler bottle and I’ve subsequently moved it over to my experimental blending station. The only positive it brings to my blends is that it’s great for adding a depth of color to them, but then I get kinda mad knowing it’s adding artificial depth of color. I could just buy some E150a and do that myself. This bottle is awarded 1 star because you get a liter of cheap, single malt for around $30. That’s it. Avoid this unless you are a college kid and want to get drunk as cheaply as possible. Cheers.