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A typical "islay nose", with an elegant smoke and delicious complex hints from walnut to barley, through nougat and other sweets.
In the palate, first impression is smoke, which develops quickly on fruit and even citrus fruits, before coming back on malt, the whole being partially hidden behing a veil of smoke.
A very nice finish, powerful and smooth at the time, contrasting with the fireworks of the mout. No trace of violet, like in many other products of this distillery. It is probably the best Bowmore I ever tasted.
2006

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A clear nose presenting first a kind of medicinal profile before developing on discrete notes of smoke and peat. The nose develops slowly on quite complex fruity hints (exotic fruit, apricot). Complex but subtly discrete.
The first impression in the palate is a nice complexity, from the cereal to clear violet notes (as we get used from Bowmore...) before coming back to more classical fruity notes. Obviously, the Bowmore whiskies produced in the 80's or 90's will keep this violet reputation for a long time. Just a pity this strange taste partially destroying the charm of this whisky by it annoying character. I must confess I liked this special taste quite a lot a few years ago even if it really bores me now.
The finish is quite long and here too, this excessive violet taste just spoils the pleasure.
Rereading the last tasting note (written about 2 years ago) I'm really surprise I insist on the absence of this violet marker in this whisky because this time it was really obvious. Could this be due to a kind of "time bomb"? Because if I really insisted on the absence of this flavour, it really means it did not appear the first time, as I already was aware of this characteristic of Bowmore



2008

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A nice nose discretely peated with some smoky and fleshy notes.
The mouth is pleasant, dominated by peat and chocolate notes.
The finish is lingering and warm, prolonging the mocha, chocolate and smoke impressions for a while.
This last tasting happened nearly 2 years after the preceding one... Is this an effect of aeration? No exaggerated flower (violet) impression anymore... at least not immediately detectable...
So even after 4 years opening, this bottle remains excellent....
2010