Bowmore 10-Year Dark & Intense
40% ABV - Islay, Scotland
Nose: Red fruits layered with sultanas, ginger spice, and a sweet berry syrup on top with some wood notes. Very decent and easy to take in at this bottling strength. Not a lot of smoke here.
Taste: Light smoke – there it is! – and ripe fruit. Some light tropical notes, but it’s mostly the red orchard fruits. Not complex, but very inviting still.
Finish: Dry peat smoke at the end of a fire, citrus (lemon), wood polish, charcoal, and some spices. The heat is surprising.
Bowmore is one of the first distilleries to become a favourite of mine, and to date it represents the top distillery ranked by number of expressions I have tasted. I’m not yet an expert on it - still years to go – but I have discovered a few flavours that I’m always hoping for when I try a new one.
This Bowmore is “married” is ex-Sherry casks. At first, before I opened it, I thought it was a maturation similar to the previous 10-Year Travel Retail Exclusive (TRE) “Inspired by the Devil’s Casks.” How untrue that is… I think the majority of this liquid spent time in ex-Bourbon and then some portion was finished in ex-Sherry, or blended with some more mature stock. The best way to describe this one, relative to the core range, is think of the 12-Year with the veil of ex-Sherry. Sounds good? Sure! But don’t expect some of the complexity the 15-Year Darkest offers - which matured for three years in ex-Sherry. This bottling feels that it had one or two years in a seasoned Sherry cask - “seasoned” meaning it probably only held Sherry for a couple years, which I have gathered isn’t quite long enough to impart flavour deep into the wood grain - thereby supporting the shorter finishing or maturation time, because it will otherwise become tired more quickly!
I think that this expression hits the nail on the head for a TRE. The (unfortunately) low 40% ABV, sweeter flavours, and muted peat smoke will make this dram feel more accessible to a wide range of palates. Though it is actually a great value whisky being bottled in the 1L size and priced at ~$100 CAD (this is a conversion - a friend picked it up as she travelled through Heathrow Airport). At a recent tasting, of the 10-, 15-, and 18-Year 2017 TREs, this was selected to be “the best one.”
Oh, so how about those flavours I seek from the spirits bottled as Bowmore? Not this one… however, there is another in this TRE lineup that comes a lot closer! (Hint: Starts with “Golden” and ends with “Elegant”...)
Note: This whisky was tasted alongside the other 2017 Bowmore TREs: 15-Year Golden & Elegant and 18-Year Deep & Complex.
Tasting Notes (Official): Breathe In: Sun-dried fruit, baked Seville orange and toasted maple. Sip: Sultanas, sea salt and dark fruit oils. Savour: Peat-smoked walnut and spices.
Tasted 22 May 2019. (Posted 27 May 2019.)
