Bowmore 10 Year Old Devil's Cask Inspired Whisky Review!

A travel-exclusive Bowmore that is 'inspired by' the legendary & dearly-departed Devil's Casks series that were all fully-matured in sherry casks. But make no mistake, this is not a Devil's Cask Bowmore. 

Maybe they just ran out of names for ideas? But a cynic might infer that they're trying to "cash in" on the success of the dearly-departed Devil's Cask bottlings by using the name to sell more of this new, rather different whisky - and no doubt confusing plenty of naïve duty-free buyers in the process. The real Devil's Cask bottlings, of which there were three, were all cask strength Bowmores that were fully-matured in sherry casks. The first two were very reasonably priced on release, were age-stated at 10-years, and were fully-matured in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks, while the third release lost the age statement and was matured in both Oloroso and PX sherry casks, while also bringing a massive price increase - roughly double that of the first two releases. I've only had the privilege of tasting the second release in the series, which I reviewed here, but it's still one of my absolute favourite Bowmore official bottlings that I've tasted to date. Although there have also been quite a few independent bottlings that have equalled or even beaten it. It's not all about the sherry bombs either, with plenty of cask strength ex-bourbon cask bottlings proving to be very enjoyable - particularly the Tempest series of bottlings that are also discontinued. 

For some distilleries, travel retail a.k.a duty free seems to be something of a dumping ground for average stock in fancy packaging. There's a distinct lack of age statements, decent bottling strengths and natural presentation in this market, and the pricing is no longer as reasonable as it once was. Some distilleries do treat it differently though, with Bruichladdich coming to mind, and also Bowmore's sister distillery Laphroaig - aside from their 40% ABV 1-litre offerings which in my experience are to be avoided. On the one hand, this "Devil's Cask Inspired" bottling has a few points in it's favour: firstly, the age statement has returned at 10-years, and it has been bottled at 46% ABV - which if memory serves is actually a first for Bowmore. Those two boxes are not often ticked in the 'travel retail' / duty-free sector, where apart from a few exceptions most offerings are missing many of the details that more discerning whisky buyers look for. But they've stopped short of officially stating that this bottling is non-chill filtered and colouring isn't mentioned, so we can't be sure on either of those fronts. It is quite reasonably priced, particularly in the 1-litre bottle, and thanks to the worldwide situation at the moment it's accessible in normal retail, forgoing the need to visit an international airport that by now must resemble a filmset for your typical post-apocalyptic efforts from Hollywood. On the other hand, though, it's matured in a combination of Oloroso sherry casks and red wine casks and is obviously not cask strength, so this is going to be a very different experience to what supposedly 'inspired' it. Personally I've not been blown away by the three-or-four examples of red wine cask-matured/finished Bowmores that I've tasted, even at cask strength. They just don't seem to shine like their ex-bourbon and ex-sherry counterparts, which can be truly excellent- especially when the Bowmore tropical fruitiness is still evident. But I'm always happy to be proven wrong!

Wine cask Islay whiskies can be excellent though - look at Bruichladdich's efforts for example, or even those from Ardbeg e.g. the Grooves Committee Release and to a lesser extent the recent Blaaack Committee Release. Bruichladdich are of course the most prolific users of wine casks on the island, and have been since their re-opening almost 20 years ago. So they really do know how to make the most of them, and that applies to all three single malts that they produce - unpeated, heavily peated and super-heavily peated. Bowmore though uses a light-to-medium peating level, and is very different in profile to the whiskies made on the opposite side of Loch Indaal. What's interesting here with this 'Devil's Cask Inspired' Bowmore is that it's not a wine cask finish, it's a marriage of fully-matured wine and Oloroso sherry casks. The type of wine that those casks previously held isn't mentioned either, but we can safely assume that they were red wine casks. Can we have a bit more information please Bowmore? Three simple details would change this whisky in the eyes of the whisky nerds: is it chill filtered, is it artificially coloured, and what type of wine did those wine casks hold. It doesn't seem that difficult to me, you've done these things before with other expressions, and your sister distillery (Laphroaig) already ticks these boxes semi-regularly. Without this sort of information and a bit more differentiation this whisky will just blend in with the myriad of other vaguely-described travel exclusive whiskies that are sitting on the shelves. Which seems to be exactly what has happened, since this is still widely available (present international travel situations notwithstanding) and is now spilling over into regular retail. But let's give this Bowmore the benefit of the doubt, and see what sort of devil we're dealing with!

Bowmore 'Devil's Cask Inspired', 10-years old, 46%. Islay, Scotland.

Matured in Oloroso sherry and (presumably red) wine casks. Unknown chill filtration or colouring. Travel retail exclusive. 

Colour: Bronze / copper. Possibly (probably) artificially boosted. 

Nose: Seems a little muted and muddled. Dark & dank red grape skins, a few sweet sultanas and currants, and one cherry. Some red wine tannins and a slight tinge of sea salt. Slightly meaty (game meats), with caramel, cinnamon and oak. Very slight hint of tropical fruit out in the ether. 

Texture: Light-medium weight. Seems a little flat & muted again. Slight touch of heat but it's subtle.

Taste: More caramel and cinnamon, some brown sugar and ground black pepper too. A couple of raisins & currants again, drying red grape skins and dried orange slices. Wine tannins again too but they're more subdued here. Subtle hints of dried mango and a touch of earthy peat.  

Finish: Short length. Artificial caramel syrup, slight grape must and wine tannins. Slight hints of dates, salt and tropical fruit in the background, and a touch of powdery red apple. But it's that artificial caramel note that hangs around. 

Score: 2 out of 5. 

Notes: It would've scored higher without that dull caramel note that seems to flatten and mute everything else. Is it coming from excessive e150 colouring? I can't say, but it wouldn't surprise me. And it's not something I remember finding in many Bowmores - and certainly not in the Devils Cask series. There are glimpses of Bowmore's tropical fruit, earthy powdery peat and sea salt here, but they're fleeting glimpses and if you blink you'll probably miss them. Which is a shame. I'd actually recommend reaching for the regular 15-year old Bowmore (previously known as 'Darkest', unfortunately) instead, despite it being bottled at a lower strength. And yes, even with the 1-litre travel retail bottle and reasonable pricing taken into account. Kudos must be given for the 46% bottling strength though, let's hope the distillery makes that a trend! 

Based on the smell & taste I can't help but feel like the wine casks have either been too assertive or too numerous - or both - in this one, and the presumed artificial colouring and chill filtration haven't helped either. Disclaimer though, I do tend to compare all sherry cask Bowmores to both the second Devil's Cask bottling and Elements of Islay Bw7 - one of my all-time favourite Bowmores - and that's obviously not a fair fight. Those two delicious drams are some of the best examples of what this distillery can do, and they're very, very distant cousins to this 'inspired' Devil. 

Cheers!