Bowmore Legend with Steve, Goran, Dan & Matt

Untitled1Post 301 y’all! Haven’t done back to back articles in a while.  Since we’re starting on a new day, with a new theme, I figured we should do a proper single malt scotch to mark the occasion.

Bowmore Legend. We’re known as big Bowmore fans – before the price went up, their 12y was *the best* budget-range single malt scotch with a year on it. And it’s always nice to get a new expression of a brand you know is good. This is another interprovincial smuggling job, from Calgary. I had to pack it in newspapers and check the bag, but the bottle made it home in one piece.

The Legend differs from the 12y by both lacking an age expression, a trend we’re seeing more of, and with a different cask treatment. Aged in bourbon barrels, this bottle is a toned down version of the 12y. Which makes sense – at about $40, a calmer, cheaper, more accessible Bowmore with no age requirement allows them produce more to a wider audience. It’s a ground floor single malt that tastes pretty great, but isn’t quite the “full Bowmore experience”.

colour
Simon – gold
Steve – gold
Goran – light honey
Dan – golden honey
Matt – n/a

nose
Simon – chocolate & cereal, slight fruit, wood and nuttiness, smokey sweet, maple, pancakes, rubber tire
Steve – peaty, smokey, grapefruit, def a scotch
Goran – ocean, salt, brown, sugar, sweetness turns savoury, sponge bread, iodine
Dan – dark tobacco & molasses with large smoke presence, smoke is more of a lingering smoke than fresh fire
Matt – pomegranate, lemon, pink grapefruit, perfume like, broad

neat
Simon – spicy, light, smooth, maple, rubber, tart smoke
Steve – peaty, dry, powerful, leather, grapefruit
Goran – light, sweeter than expected, light body, fresh fruit, caramel
Dan – oily, salted toffee with spicy smoke
Matt – gravel, pineapple core, iodine

finish
Simon – medium, smokey & salty
Steve – long, too much
Goran – long, some iodine, salt, smoke, coconut
Dan – medium long
Matt – medium long

splash
Simon – lightens and sweetens
Steve – n/a
Goran – n/a
Dan – quite dry, less complex
Matt – nope, not good

overall
Simon – 8/10
Steve – 4/10 don’t waste this on me
Goran – 8/10 not enough smoke
Dan – 7.8/10
Matt – 9/10

Bowmore Legend – 40% 750ml – ~$40.00 – Islay

Try it? Yes! Buy it? Yes!

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