Bowmore 10 Year Dark & Intense

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.

Of all Islay distilleries, Bowmore is the least interesting for me, due to a past experience with the 12 and 15yo core expressions. 18yo was good and i think i once had another that was fine also, but you know how prejudice works on a man, there has to be something that completely changes my mind about the whole distillery, but this 10yo wasn't the case, eventhough i recognize it is not bad of a dram for a 40$ 10yo dram. Bottled at 40%abv On the nose it is wonderful. That has to ve said. Perfumed heather peat, cake crest and after a long while (about 5 minutes) honey and Hazelnut start to develop, like a sweet snack called Hanuta. It was great! I had my hopes up and i kinda managed the whole non-smokey-peat bowmore profile. On the palate it is sweet at start. Medium peaty sensation. Burnt moss. Heather. A very simple and dim spicyness of pepper. It is a very regular, entry level to peat scotch. Not bad, not wonderful. Finish is very short, some ashy/oaky notes, overall a pleasant easy drink. Not one of the fruit notes they say it has, appeared to me. I believe that even for a peaty whisky, this might go well with water or cola. I think for the price is good but you can have some nice laphroaigs for almost the same so 76 over 100 feels right for this dram.

A travel retail expression of Bowmore that is called "Dark & Intense", with a 10 year old age statement, that lived to its name mostly on the nose, and then fell dramatically. Bottled at 40%abv, deep copper color. On the nose, a very complex and enjoyable aroma. Stinky peat, burnt hay. Recently baked brownies. Feels thick; caramel and some dark fruits. Macerated fruits, dark fruit syrup. After 2 minutes it released an incredible cherry syrup and the stinky peat is back. Very velvety and complex. After the first sip, aroma changed into a sweet, cheap, blackberry liquor note which happens to be very appealing. Palate is very soft. Some young woody notes right away, very watery, you can hold it easily for ages. Not very complex, lots of sawdust and hay. A second sip gave me a very nice caramel note, not much else. Aftertaste is not complex either. Very short. Some slight pepper and salt. Dim sawdust. Not much here really. Overall, i really liked the nose on this one, but the rest wasn't very good. There is nothing off-putting in here but the palate and aftertaste are very simple. An unbalanced single malt, but not a terrible one. My score for it is 75 over 100.

4 stars because I'm getting a good dram at $43 USD for a liter. A little pricier and I'd 3 star it. It's definitely dark, but intense? Nah. It's barely peated, with sherry notes abundant. The 40% ABV is palpable on the body: there's no weight to this whisky on the tongue. Throughout there are notes of orange peel and cinnamon. Good whisky for the price point. More importantly, where else will you find an age stated scotch at that price? Only in a time machine. Slainte!

Nose: plum, some briny stuff in background, very low smokiness. Palate: light spices, bitterness, earthy/leathery (?). Finish: light bitterness, short finish, moderate smoke. Overall: very light. Way too low smoke for me for an Islay whisky. My first Bowmore experience and not positive at all. I was expecting more heavy whisky, with much more body.

Peat aroma has a good amount of iodine. Good chunk of smokey peat on the tongue, with a hint of sweeter barbeque smoke. Body is medium thin, tail is lightning fast. There is some lingering flavor but the big hit of flavor from the start evaporates almost instantly. Well done, well balanced, not the full journey of many other islays though.