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Bowmore 15 Year Old - Darkest

Bowmore Row II: Sherry Emesis

0 669

@TheConscienceReview by @TheConscience

25th Dec 2014

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  • Nose
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  • Taste
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  • Finish
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  • Balance
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  • Overall
    69

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

Oh boy. There is something off key about this one...

Nose: fruity peat, ash, something vomitous. Ya, sherry-barf might be an accurate descriptor.

Palate: the fruit dominates. Red fruit, sherry, and sugars. The peat is nowhere to be found.

Finish: initially a nice sugar and spice combination, with a vegetal undercurrent. With a little more time the finish became ghoulish. Rotting leaves and stewed fruit. About as appetizing as it sounds.

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6 comments

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

Worth asking, at what temperature did you taste this?

9 years ago 0

@TheConscience
TheConscience commented

The bottle was at room temperature, though the whisky in the glass was hand-warmed.

9 years ago 0

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

I guess you're unlikely to change your mind, but if it helps your future experience any: the theme of my review for this was to drink cool, maybe 16C. (I think that was the temperature in Edinburgh that day... and every other day!) The Bowmore smoke should be able to come across as soft, and not-- well not as you describe....

9 years ago 0

@TheConscience
TheConscience commented

I'm always willing to change my mind, provided I can achieve a different experience. Interesting suggestion. I haven't had much luck with cold whisky (I find warming amplifies the flavour) but I am definitely willing to try anything. I treat temperature as yet another user variable, like water.

It'll have to wait until I come across a dram Bowmore since I am not likely to pull the trigger on a bottle any time soon.

9 years ago 0

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

This triggered me to pull out my reserved sample of my first bottle (from 2+ years ago). First of all, yes, it was better colder-- and got worse warming in my hand. Secondly, I think that "barf" you describe is what I called cedar-- quite a strong cedar note that really comes back in the finish-- and... what also struck me, that I missed the first time, was the bit of iodine (I've learned to identify by trying more Islays). Not quite Laphroaig-levels of "barfy" iodine, but enough to "challenge" the sherry. Still, I really like the palate fruitiness as it combines with the dark notes.

9 years ago 0

@TheConscience
TheConscience commented

Interesting experiment, and development in the whisky over time. I would have preferred cedar to vomitus, trust me. The vomitus note is unique to this whisky for me. I've never encountered it in another whisky before, even the heavily peaty and iodine-laden islays. It had a bizarre admixture of acrid caustic-sour-rot characteristics.

9 years ago 0

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