For Bowmore Devil´s Cask III, this dangerous single-malt is subtitled “Double the Devil” …and holy crap! The Bowmore Distillery is one of the oldest in all of Scotland and lies on the
Isle of Islay, on the banks of the Western coastline. The sea brings it its famous character, which in combination with peat gives birth to one of the most recognized flavours in the Whisky World.
The techniques that Bowmore employs have remained the same for centuries. The water they use is from the adjacent
Laggan river, the kiln is heated with Islay peat and they still use the traditional wooden malt shovel to turn the barley
Islay is special. For centuries, all they had was the local barley, clear spring water, cut and dried peat to heat their homes, and the sea … always there was the sea. If you take all that and wring it into a barrel, you get
Bowmore … a Whisky that clings to the memory of the
barley, the peat, and the sea.
This is the
third—
and Bowmore says last—of the
Devil’s Cask series, and powerful evil it is too. Everything about it is seductive and tempting. It’s like
Bowmore managed to bottle up the
seven deadly sins and age them in
premium oak. And that’s seems to be exactly what they did. If you love Islay single-malts, you will lust after it, will cherish it greedily, desire to savor it all for yourself, and feel the flush of pride that the bottle is yours, all yours.
Bowmore Devil´s Cask III is every drop the
signature smoky dram that Islay-lovers love. But this one is aged in
BOTH Oloroso and
Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks and—
hold on to your endangered soul—is bottled at a jaw-dropping
56.7% ABV. That, my weak-willed friend, is cask strength. The color is more
RED than amber, the flavor so jam-packed that it explodes in your mouth, and it has all the smoke and spice it needs … and more. Resistance is futile.