Head to head Bowmore 12, Bowmore 15 Darkest and Bowmore 18

[Quaich1]

I just opened a Bowmore Collection of 3, 50ml bottles of Bowmore 12, Bowmore 15 Darkest and Bowmore 18.

Here's my "hot off the press" tasting notes:

Neat

Bowmore 12 Nose: Stewed prunes, smokey with ever so little honey, sweet peat, cold boiled potato, a hint of borscht (red cabbage). Palate: Peat, bonfire smoke, warm and spicy, hint of leather and pepper. Finish: Oily, lingering, smoke, peat takes on a more mellow note.

Bowmore 15 Darkest Nose: Sherry notes, varnish of the sweet variety, smoke, berries, peat that invites like a red carpet of sweet peat, hybrid of toffee and dark chocolate. Palate: Peat, dark chocolate, sherry notes, spice warmth, oily with a hint of orange peel. Finish: Sweet smoke, a fruit candy sucker, stewed fruit with a tick of spice.

Bowmore 18 Nose: Marzipan, heavy dessicated fruit (heavenly), cherry-strawberry melange, sea breeze, sweet smoke with a hint of smoke house. Palate: Cherry blossom chocolate wrapped in savory peat, spice, pepper, smoke in the background; a cherry coke in a dram with a twist of peat. Finish: Creamy, dark chocolate, stewed and reduced cooked berry assortment.

What a great experience! The Bowmore 15 Darkest was really quite excellent. Jim Murray mentions this dram being tainted by sulphur. NO SULPHUR in my dram and I have a very sensitive nose and taste buds.

The Bowmore 18 is a lovely drop, one that I will continue to enjoy time and time again.

The Bowmore 12 today in the mini bottle was smoother than my last full-size bottle and actually held it's own in the taste testing.

However, I would have to rate them with Bowmore 18 on top, the 15 Darkest in 2nd and the 12 in third. The Darkest seemed like a solid 90 to me and the 18 just beat it out.
And as Walter Cronkite the famous news man used to say: And that's the Way it is....
_________________
"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

[Drover]

I love the Bowmore 15 Darkest alongside the excellent Bowmore Tempest releases it would be my favourite from the Bowmore range. i have never detected any sulphur from the darkest either

[albo]

I've not had the 18, I may have so find a bottle and give it a try.

[bifter]

Great review Quaich1, if you enjoyed these so much you should certainly get some more full size bottles!

I have to be honest, I've never really clicked with Bowmore. I know it's a great favourite among Islay fans and the distillery has great provenance, floor maltings, etc but I prefer all the other distilleries bar Bunnahabhain. The 12 doesn't do much for me and I found the Small Batch Reserve a little farmy and unremarkable. I even had a bottle of 16yo from SMWS that was slightly sulphured. The only one I've really enjoyed was a miniature of the Enigma, there was no sulphur despite the dark sherry influence and it was beautifully smooth. I don't want to talk them down, I respect what they do, just a personal thing I guess but I'm always willing to keep trying different expressions and vattings.
_________________
"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Alexppp]

Bifter, my introduction to Bowmore was the Enigma, which I still prefer to the regular 12. It is as you say beautifully smooth, and it has an added layer of depth compared to the 12. I do like the 12 as well, though among medium-peated drams I prefer Caol Ila 12. What don't you like about Bunnahabhain?

[bifter]

[Alexppp]

Yeah the new Bunnahabhain is at 46.3%, non-chill filtered and natural colour. I never tried the old one so I can't compare the two, however I can say that the new one is excellent in its own right, with deep, nutty, spicy flavours and a lovely briny edge to it. Same goes for the 18, though the 12 is far more affordable. I had them both side by side at a tasting recently (I think I wrote about it in the 'what are you dramming' thread) and actually preferred the 12. I'd recommend it, provided you're not expecting peat that is.

[bifter]

I looked up Jim Murray's ratings for Bunna (2012 Whisky Bible) and the old 12yo scored 80, whereas the new higher strength expression gets 85.5. This still puts it at the bottom of the heap of Islay core expressions in Jim's view:

Ardbeg 10yo - 95 (older notes give it 97)
Lagavulin 16 yo - 95
Bowmore 12yo - 91
Bruichladdich 10yo - 90
Laphroaig 10yo - 90
Caol Ila 12yo - 89
Bunnahabhain - 85.5

I am discounting Kilchoman for now as they don't have a core bottling of this kind of age yet. I'd be interested to know if this pecking order has changed in the 2013WB?

I agree with you on Caol Ila, I'd rate it a little higher and drop Bowmore by two or three points. I swither a lot between Caol Ila and Laphroaig but they're difficult to compare as they're such different beasts.
_________________
"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]