Bowmore Devil's Casks, 10 yo, 56.9% abv ($100).
The nose hits you first with a dry but fruity sherry backed up with smoke. The palate is milk chocolate with peat (a new M&M flavor?). It's quite sweet but with much less sherry character than I would expect, though some of the sherry contributes to the milk chocolate note. By the finish, the peat has clearly won over the sherry.
This is a decent malt, but the strong sweetness on the palate kicks it out of balance. It's hard to recommend at the price, which is about $30 more than Laphroaig Cairdeas or Laprhoaig Cask Strength, both of which I prefer.
A little sad to see this review - had been reading lots of reviews that liked this, but I tend to agree with your reviews...witness the most recent Old a Forester BB, which was awful despite great press.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I really loved Bowmore in the late 90's and early 00's - thought the 17-year and 25-year's were really interesting - very different than the Lagavulin-Ardbeg-Laphroig axis which I also love.
Are there any Bowmore's that you and the LAWS crew like?
-A
I was disappointed in this one. On paper, it sounded great...10 years old, cask strength, first fill sherry. I really wanted it to be amazing, but it was just okay.
ReplyDeleteI generally do like Bowmores, though I haven't gone through their basic expressions in a while.