Bowmore Black Rock

Nose: Warm, full-bodied, toffee-laced smoke. A definite sherry backdrop with brine, seaweed and flinty minerals that is evocative of the seashore. [The dry glass aroma is like the smell of a fireplace where cherry-wood has been burnt]. Palate: Sweet-smoke arrival that is very mild and agreeable. It blooms quickly into a full smoky development with a touch of iodine and wine sweetness, but then everything seems to fade away and it quickly tails off into the finish. Finish: Short. Smoky and slightly briny and dry, but there is a lingering smoky barbecue taste. Friendly and extremely easy to drink - you could make a case for recommending this to beginners as a first smoky whisky because it's very well balanced and approachable. The downside is that it is incredibly "fast". The nose promises a lot and the arrival seems about to deliver on the promise, but after a remarkably brief burst of flavour it collapses in on itself and disappears into the ether. The texture is also rather thin and watery. This could have been released as a much fuller and more robust dram - at cask strength it would have been like a sherried Tempest, and a truly impressive "black rock" - but to give it its due, it is a very pleasant dram and would be the perfect gift for someone who likes smoky whiskies but finds most of them to be too intense. "Above Average" : 80/100 (3 stars)

Dark amber color. It's appealing! The nose is crisp and fresh, smelling of briny sea salts, lemons, and a TOUCH of vanilla. Quite literally. It's barely there if at all. On the palate is an alcoholic burn of youthful spirit, and perhaps some charred oak influence...sometimes its hard to tell the two apart. I get that same green vegetable taste that I experienced with the 12 year old. You could tell me that this aged in sherry casks, and I would say that I barely noticed. Overall, a lack of distinct flavor. The same could be said for the finish: swift and flavorless. With a few drops of water, it reduces whatever charm this dram has to a basic blended scotch. I would suggest to not bother with this expression and just start with the 12 year old, or jump to the 15 year old, which has been my favorite Bowmore so far.

I wasn't expecting much but I like it. Has the familiar rich smokey sherried sea salty barbecue flavour of bowmore and even some of the springbank vegetal flavour. I like it. Underlying spirit is a bit young but the flavour compensates well. This is very cheap at $55USD a litre or under $40 a regular sized bottle. 4 it is!

Excellent with a mix of peated and iodine flavor. However, I will prefer the Laphroaig for the balance of the flavors and the iodine taste and I will for sure prefer a Lagavulin for the complexity and the overall sensation.

typisch raucher Bowmore geruch mit herzhaften Nussnoten. Im Geschmack herzhaft pfeffrig, dann intensiv torfig und leicht salzig, aber mit dumpfen Kohlegeschmack. Das Torfaroma bleibt lange bestehen und breitet sich aus.

Really smooth. No bite. Not much else. Nose of malted barley, vanilla. Taste of malted barley. Short finish, with vanilla coming in on the end. Tasted at Bowmore Distillery on 7/26/2016