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Bowmore Legend

Want an everyday Islay dram?

0 881

@jdcookReview by @jdcook

26th Dec 2009

0

Bowmore Legend
  • Nose
    20
  • Taste
    21
  • Finish
    20
  • Balance
    20
  • Overall
    81

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

This is the third review of my Christmas present from my wife. She said she bought this one when she noticed it was on sale from the online store we buy from (www.nicks.com.au).

The nose is full of the usual Islay brine, peat and smoke. Very earthy. A few drops of water emphasises the iodine in the brine, and over several sniffs, I get just the barest floral hint.

The taste is light and ever so slightly spiced, full of honeyed sweetness that is soon overwhelmed by a relatively delicate (for an Islay malt) wave of peat, smoke and seaweed.

The finish is fairly long, and full of peat and smoke, and surprisingly velvety for such a simple Islay dram. The peat and smoke eventually ease (but never disappear), allowing the gentler notes of honey and sea salt to emerge in the background.

This is a fairly straightforward malt then, and very competitively priced. Not brilliant good, but a fantastic every day Islay dram. In terms of value for money, it's not quite there with the Highland Park 12 and the Talisker 10, but it would be not far down that list.

Is it a cold winter night? Maybe you are reluctant to break out your best? Do you like Islay peat monsters? This dram is going to be hard to beat under those conditions.

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8 comments

@jwise
jwise commented

Really? All I got was a mouthful of dirt. It was NOTHING like Talisker, Highland Park, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, or any other whisky I've ever tasted. It was just peat, peat, and more peat. No spice. No sweetness. No iodine. No sea salt. Just peaty dirt. Perhaps my bottle was from an "off" batch. Who knows...

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@jwise - that does sound different to my experience! This was a simple dram with the basic Islay flavours, and not much else when I had it. I just went and poured myself a sip just to be sure, and I might have slightly over-scored it (it's more like an 81 or so), but everything else was pretty much right on!

13 years ago 0

@jwise
jwise commented

I tasted my bottle over and over, just to be sure I wasn't missing the nuances. Over the year I had this bottle open, it never changed. In fact, I just gave the bottle away to a friend. I'm curious what he is going to say about it.

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

Maybe you did get a bad bottle. It does happen from time to time, especially with peaty whiskies, as you do have to work closer to the tails of a distillation to get the peaty taste. At least that was what I was informed by a local distiller!

So maybe your bottle was a little too close to the tail...

13 years ago 0

@andrewMSK
andrewMSK commented

Sounds very interesting, because peaty whisky - it's my favourite choice! Thanks, JD. Add this stuff to my wish list! But seems the color not natural (this is young whisky, right?). E150 play again?.

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@andrewMSK - there's nothing on my bottle that says anything about colouring, so it's pretty safe to assume that colouring has been added - so yes, the old E150 is almost certainly in there...

13 years ago 0

@AboutChoice
AboutChoice commented

@jdcook, we are currently able to edit and update our review scores.

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@AboutChoice - we can indeed, and thanks for reminding me - just changed the rating!

13 years ago 0