A very short post, doubling up as a bit of a rant:
Please, please, please... if you run a distillery and have an 'innovation' department, can we please encourage you to do at least a basic review of
other brand’s products in the marketplace before you craft your marketing for
a new release.
Let’s say that maybe one island-based Scotch producer had
twice used the devil in their releases. And maybe even a major American whiskey
distiller had too... well, then maybe don’t use it for your newest release.
Especially when the liquid inside is really quite good.
Bowmore – The Devil’s Casks – 10 Years Old – 6000 bottles – 56.9% abv - RRP £50.99
Note: matured in 100% sherry casks
Nose: A big hit of peat and salt at the start which develops into Battenburg cake, a hint of vintage engine oil and new leather (nubuck).
There is certainly a tarry element to this, which isn’t a bad thing as it adds
some real depth and body to the liquid.
Palate: This dram needs water to open and, quite frankly,
take some of the aggression which it has at 56.9% away. Once watered, it gives
plums, red apples, quince cheese, damson jelly, cigar box and some quite earthy
tones of high quality dark chocolate, all wrapped up in smoked ham.
Finish: Again, a good
slug of water is needed to bring the very best out of this dram. The finish
lingers with brooding smoke and the plums hanging around, in a big, juicy
capacity right to the end.
Overall: A very good whisky which is remincient of some of
the single cask first fill sherry casks of Bowmore which have been released by
the SMWS recently. The price point feels right for this whisky (after their
seemingly ‘expensive’ offering of Auchentoshan which we reviewed last week) and
the decision to bottle at such high strength is admirable, even though it
really does need water to open up. Think of this as the sherry equivlient to
Tempest, which itself has been consistently accepted as quality liquid, from
batch-to-batch.
So, great liquid. The devil really is in the detail. It’s
just a shame that he stayed in the blending room and didn’t make his way to the
marketing department for this release.
