Bowmore

by **Alec** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:33 pm

What do people think of the Bowmore 'Dawn', 'Mariner', and 'Voyage' expressions? Cheers, Alec!

by **Scotchio** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:43 pm

Alec,
I have a 20cl Mariner open at the moment and I like it. Here are my notes:
N Initially dry perfumed salty peat with hints of sherry sweetness. Peat notes dissipate after 10mins in the glass leaving sweeter pear drop notes
T Lively dry peat, licorice twig spices, salty,reminiscent of Victory V lozenges
F Dark chocolate, increasingly salty with a light peat background. Gentle oaky notes toward the end. Less assertive but more refined than the 12 year old. Flavours better combined
B Initial nose suggests peat dominance. Nose ,taste and finish seem to offer different elements all held together by a salty tang.
Hope this was helpful if you managed to stay awake until the end
regards
Steve

by **hpulley** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:31 pm

Dawn is the claret finish, right? Only sample I've had was so awfully herbal that I could detect it from the hallway. Not to my liking, I'm afraid.

Harry

by **Aidan** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:38 pm

There are so many different Bowmores that I don't know which is which.

by **Frodo** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:44 pm

Agree with Harry on the wine finish. I love the Mariner (15yr old) at its price point ($58 at the LCBO). Coastal flavours galore!

by **bamber** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:48 pm

Alec wrote:What do people think of the Bowmore 'Dawn', 'Mariner', and 'Voyage' expressions? Cheers, Alec!

I like all of them (I seem to like pretty much all whisky !)

I would rank them:
Voyage
Mariner
Dusk

The Voyage is not worth what it goes for these days though IMO.

by **hpulley** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:50 pm

I've never had a good Mariner. I've always liked the 12yo and 17yo even though I think they used to be better. Used to love Darkest. 21yo used to be very good as well. Not had the courage to try the 25yo though I've heard enough good comments to be interested.

Harry

by **Frodo** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:54 pm

The Bowmore 25 was on offer at the Summerhill LCBO a while back. Loads of character!

by **Alec** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:01 pm

Cheers for the tasting notes Scotchio, excellent. I like Bowmore a lot, and the Mariner sounds exactly what I'm after!

I'm still tempted by the Dawn, even though I'm a bit dubious about the Port finishes, and might still have to try it! And also the Voyage. Anyone think it's worth the retail price (ca. £80 I think)?

by **Frodo** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:05 pm

Alec wrote:Anyone think it's worth the retail price (ca. £80 I think)?

Yikes!!! Here it's $90 cdn (45 GBP).

by **Deactivated Member** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:13 pm

I just checked the prices at TWE for these Bowmores as I wasn't sure exactly which the previous poster was referring to at 80 GBP:

Mariner 29 GBP
Darkest / Dawn / Dusk all 34 GBP
Voyage 95 GBP
Claret 80 GBP

So, is the Voyage that good?
WH

by **Frodo** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:15 pm

Sorry. I was referring to the Port finish. Port and wine finish are both $90 cdn (45 GBP) at the LCBO.

by **Mr Ellen** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:44 pm

hpulley wrote:Dawn is the claret finish, right? Only sample I've had was so awfully herbal that I could detect it from the hallway. Not to my liking, I'm afraid.

Harry

Bowmore Dawn is finished in Port whereas Dusk is the one finished in Bourdeaux Casks. The Bowmore Dawn is in my opinion one of their best offerings.
Here are my tasting notes:

Bowmore Dawn (finished in Port):
Nose: Smoky, sweet, toffee and some fruit. Very interesting.
Palate: Very smooth and silky. Sweet, peat and oak combined with some chocolate notes, more fudge.
Finish: Peaty, long, warm and robust. Mouthfilling and a gorgeous aftertaste. Long lasting.
Comment: I find this one of the Bowmore's best offerings. Wonderful, chewy, sweet, honeyish in a great combination with the peat and smoke. Opens with water and brings out even more flavours.

Bowmore Dusk (finished in Bourdeaux):
Nose: Fruit and smoke in the most bizarre combination. Honey and sugar. Perfumy.
Palate: Strange, more wine than whisky. Chewy, fruity bubblegum-like taste that sticks to the inside of your mouth.
Finish: Toffee, fruit and hints of smoke and peat. A long and somewhat salty finish.
Comment: In my opinion it just doesn't work together. The strangest wood finish I've ever tried (...and worst).

Bowmore Cask Strength:
Nose: Sea, salt, sugar and nuts. Burnt wood (bonfire), rubber.
Palate: Very smooth for it's strength, oily. Hints of orange peel and some fruit (plum, apricot), nectar underneath a layer of burnt wood.
Finish: Dry, burnt rubber, peat and some fruit.
Comment: A nice, decent cask strength offering. I would expect more peat and smoke from this one as its a vatting of mid-teens Bowmore.

Bowmore Darkest:
Nose: Smoke and peat in a delicious combination. In my opinion one of the better Bowmore's.
Palate: Dry, malty with sweet and smoky notes.
Finish: Salt and licorice with smoke and peat. Add some water and you bring out some more of the smoke. Fruity, gentle and long. A truly fantastic finish. Makes you want more!!
Comment: As stated one of my favourites. A wonderful combination of smoke, peat with some oaky, vanilla notes.

Comment: One of my favourites from this giant.

Bowmore 15y. (Mariner):
Nose: Peat and smoke, a litte weak. Some fruit and vanilla.
Palate: Very smooth and rounded. Lingers in your mouth. First some sweet notes followed by salt and peat and then back to more sugar (demerara).
Finish: Sweet, a little fruity. Wonderfully rounded and long. Do not add water, it weakens the whole experience.
Comment: A great allrounder. Has it all, lacks nothing. Smooth and appetizing.

Bowmore 17y.:
Nose: Peat, some smoke. Medicinal, slightly phenolic. Beautiful!!
Palate: Rounded but complex. Need some water to fully open up. Creamy with some honey notes under the peat.
Finish: Smoky yet with hints of vanilla and some fruit. Truly amazing. Long and warming.
Comments: One of the better ones. So smooth it lingers in your mouth. I like it for it's creaminess.

Cheers...
________________________
Anders

by **hpulley** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:45 pm

Whatever it's called, I was referring to the Claret finished Bowmore. I guess it wasn't Dawn or Dusk.

Harry

by **hpulley** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:46 pm

Frodo wrote:Agree with Harry on the wine finish. I love the Mariner (15yr old) at its price point ($58 at the LCBO). Coastal flavours galore!

It's $55.55 right now, Frodo

Harry

by **Deactivated Member** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:50 pm

There is another called "Bowmore Claret".
Was this a special / limited release?

I see it come along for sale on Ebay now and again and it always commands a good price.

WH

by **Mr Ellen** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:28 pm

Bowmore Claret is the expression prior to Dusk and Voyage is the one prior to Dawn.
Claret has a strength of 56% whereas the Dusk has 50%.
Voyage has 56% and the Dawn has 51.5%.

Claret and Voyage are both discontinued, thus the high prices on eBay.

Cheers...
___________________
Anders

by **hpulley** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:30 pm

WhiskyHammer wrote:There is another called "Bowmore Claret".
Was this a special / limited release?

I see it come along for sale on Ebay now and again and it always commands a good price.

WH

I tried it during Richard Joynson's talk on "Collecting Whisky for Fun and Profit" so he knows what he's talking about. It was shown as an example of something currently in vogue, collecting all the different finishes available.

Harry

by **Alec** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:25 pm

excellent about the price, don't know which one I was thinking of at £85?!

by **Alec** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:31 pm

Just checked, and Voyage is that expensive, like WH said. So question remains, anyone think it's worth the cost?

by **Lawrence** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:53 pm

I have both Voyage (bottle 11003) and Claret (bottle #7080), I'm not sure they are worth the current value. I have no intention of drinking them but have no intention of selling them either, I'm not sure what the h*ll I'm doing with them. The tubes are nice to look at though.

by **Paul A Jellis** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:23 pm

I can't get on with Bowmore at all, it's strange because I used to love the stuff, but the recent expressions have been a big let-down. Revisited the Darkest recently, had two sips and tipped the rest away.

Cheers

Paul

by **Frodo** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:34 am

Paul A Jellis wrote:Revisited the Darkest recently, had two sips and tipped the rest away.

by **Paul A Jellis** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:55 pm

The rest of the glass, not the bottle!

It was at a tasting and I saw no reason to carry on drinking something I did not like. Even I would not tip away a whole bottle - that's why God invented Dry Ginger!

Cheers

Paul

by **Frodo** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:02 pm

Cheers (heart rate returning to regular).

by **hpulley** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:16 pm

I have a nice BBQ rib recipe involving Bowmore Darkest which is what I did with most of one particularly perfumey and herbal bottles I had. Need to write that food & whisky book!

Harry

by **Wendy** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:10 pm

Harry,
Until the cookbook is ready...What are your restaurant hours again? :wink:

Cheers,
Wendy

Bowmore

Bowmore

Re: Bowmore