Had a dram of Bowmore’s new “15YO Sherry Oak Cask” expression recently. My initial thoughts on this… The traditional Bowmore 15YO (The Darkest) is also a Sherry finished single malt - 12 years ex-Bourbon then 3 years in ex-Oloroso casks. The label description on this single malt is rather ambiguous. It says “matured in hand-selected Oloroso sherry and ex-Bourbon casks with an Oloroso sherry cask finish”. Does this imply part of the whisky was fully matured in Oloroso casks and another part was in ex-Bourbon then finished in ex-Oloroso? I don’t know. Either way, from a marketing message perspective, this is not good differentiation. 🤣 (just my humble opinion). Now to the drink… Its sweet! Too sweet for my liking. The smoke is also seemingly more muted than the 15YO Darkest. The sweetness hits different from the core 15YO too. This expression has a sweetness akin to mixing honey and palm sugar. The dark chocolate notes of the traditional 15, feel more like a dark chocolate with a lesser percentage of cocoa in this sherry oak version. It has spice. Cinnamon and a little black pepper come to mind. Also very fruity. Like a mix red fruit and berries smoothie. It’s a decent dram but I prefer the 15YO Darkest. (Note: I have not tasted their newer 15YO which I believe no longer says “Darkest”. ) Still.. quite an enjoyable dram and I certainly wouldn’t object to being offered this anywhere. 😊 #whiskydev #scotch #bowmore #singlemalt #islay

Posted by Whisky Dev at 2026-03-09 10:44:29 UTC