[Review] Bowmore - 19 years old French Oak Barrique 48.9%
Bowmore is the very first bottle of single malt I have ever bought for myself. It was Bowmore small batch from my local supermarket and it got me straight into whisky and particularly peated Islay. With time and experience, I have moved away from Bowmore's main range. The NAS from supermarkets are great for a summer high-ball I have found but the 12 tastes too manufactured for me, the 18 I tried at the distillery was disappointing, the 15 is probably the best of the bunch. However, I have also realised that cask strength releases were way more to my taste. The 10 Tempest was very good, the Devil's casks were good but got quickly overpriced and the 15 Laimrig was superb, just now discontinued as well. More recently, I tried the Vault Edition, which was decent (but a little overpriced...) and some of the Vitner's series which I really enjoyed. So when the PR company Hope and Glory got in touch with me on behalf of Edrington Beam-Suntory, offering to send me a bottle of the