Scotch Saturday: Waste of a Good Cracker

Summary

Had a glass of Bowmore Tempest at a tasting hosted by Davidson's Liquor in Denver.

For some reason, in the US this bottle is called Dorus Mor, Gaelic for 'rough wild water.' Everywhere else, they are content to call it Tempest. I can only imagine that Bowmore thinks Yanks are easily swayed by a bit of exotic language.

I wasn't. After a half dozen sniffs, I could only confirm that it had started life as grain and ended as booze. Anything else was lost. Of course, this is a cask strength scotch with high alcohol content, which always makes it harder for me to get anything meaningful from the smell.

I took a sip, hoping it would improve. For me, the Bowmore opened with nail varnish, but grapefruit and dandelion are close behind, battling all the way to a finish that is mouth puckeringly astringent.

They'd have been better off using the barley to make a Triscuit.