Elm Grove liquors in Milwaukee has Bowmore 12 at $24.99 and Dusk/Dawn/Darkest at $29.99 again, so I went ahead and bit the bullet and bought the Dusk (bordeaux cask).
Shock of shocks!
First of all, to review: the Dawn (port casking) I bought last fall is still execrable--it is a creepy, soapy, pungent, perfumey oddity; in fact I started to figure that it happens to BE the very essence of what constitutes the flaw-formerly-known-as-FWP; then there is the Darkest (sherry cask)--it remains curiously unbalanced, and skanky in the finish to boot.
But I love this Dusk! It is also pungent. It is also an oddity. It is also perfumey. And it's absolutely delicious! I have had it for close to a month now, and it is always massively enjoyable, and rounds off the evening beautifully--it rides high. The peat gets lost pretty quickly, but the goofball flavors that quickly come on are fruity and dreamy and rich and twisted and ripe and explosive. That's good. Simply put: it's pomegranates. This is the one in the series that I didn't pick up last fall, because I figured that bordeaux casking would be the ultimate of all the sundry follies--but this one is the meow--it is the righteous redemptor of all that furiously funky maturation experimentation. I quick picked up two more bottles with the price low.
I also got in more Bowmore 12, and it seems even lighter in the all-important peat department than the 12 from last fall (what's with that?). But it is very nice with just a sliver of ice.