Bowmore tasting evening at The Oak Barrel, Sydney, June 26th 2019: Whisky #3 Nose: Heavy, dark aromas of baked raisins, roasted nuts, sherry, tar, bitumen, cedarwood, coffee and seaweed. Palate: A full-bodied but dry arrival featuring resinous wood, brine, treacle and smoke. Dark fudge, sherry, glace cherries and a little licorice appear on the development. Finish: Medium/long. Meaty and salty with a dark fruit and woody aftertaste. This is the successor to the old Bowmore 15 year old "Darkest". It is essentially the same whisky but there is a subtle difference between the two expressions. It's more like batch variation than a major change. The old 15 Darkest had an unpleasant aroma combination for me (rubber inner-tubes and furniture polish). It also had a strong cherry cough-syrup flavour. In combination I used to find this profile very distasteful. This expression is similar but less intense. The off-putting aromas are subdued and thankfully the cough-syrup quality has largely disappeared. The character is still woody and resinous but more subtle notes can now be detected. Whether there has been a change to the whisky itself or whether it previously suffered from maturation in unsympathetic casks, it has definitely improved. However, much as I can see that there is something attractive about this malt for many enthusiasts, and despite the awards it has won and its general popularity, I still find it unappealing. My low rating (raised by half a point since last time) reflects my purely subjective reaction to it. "Inferior" : 65/100 (1.5 stars)