Bowmore Devil’s Cask Batch 2 – 56.3% abv

Info: Bowmore’s well priced, very limited, all sherry matured 10yo comes back for more… The round church in Bowmore kept the Devil from hiding and staying around the first time, but he’s back for a second go!

Colour: Dark burnt rust.

Nose: Argh wow, it’s easy to forget how good this whisky is. The nose is powerful and instantly takes me back to bonfire night around the fire watching fireworks as a kid. It’s smoky, woody, full of fire. Yet it’s sweet, it’s coastal in nature, tarry, malty and it’s spicy.

Palate: The palate is thick and oily, it’s spicy and hot, but just dials it back before it becomes overpowering. The tarry wood is fairly dominant in a good way followed by the smoked sherry fruits and malt.

Finish: The finish is much smother than you’d imagine, it’s dominated by the sweet smokey fruits with the oak woods becoming more balanced. It’s a slow finish which spreads the sweetness and warmth around your chest for a long time after you’ve finished swallowing.

Water: If you’re used to powerful, high ABV / cask strength whisky then you’ll find this is excellent without water. It diminishes the nose somewhat, smoothing it out to be a little more Bowmore-like, more instantly recognisable. It makes it smoother on the palate which is just fine, and seems to release the sweetness and peat just that little bit more easily. All in all, water’s not needed, but doesn’t do much harm, and if you find cask strength hard to handle then it smooths this out nicely and makes it go further. The finish with water brings out a eucalyptus fresh note.

Thoughts: I’d nearly forgotten how much I love this dram, I almost want to jump up and down with joy when drinking it. It’s a winters dram for sure, for sticking your feet up with while it’s pissing it down and cold outside. How is it compared with Batch 1? My memory from that batch has already faded, but it’d say it’s fairly similar, more of the same brilliant whisky that if you enjoyed it the first time you’ll still be in love with this time. Well done to Bowmore for trying to keep the price fairly honest, even it’s it’s a Devil to get hold of! (See what I did there?!).

Available: Basically sold out within a few minutes of going on sale, you’ll more than likely only find this auction now. Was around £65.

Comments? Come find me on Twitter @steveprentice

Thanks to Bowmore for the sample.