Balvenie 15 yo Single Barrel
Single Malt Whisky
47.8% abv
£39
Still kicking it Speyside-style and coming back to the stills of Dufftown. Had a couple of very tasty Balvenie's last week (Malt Mission 113 and 114) and am quite excited to try this as a part of the mission. Thanks to William Grant and Sons for sending me the samples. If they had included a letter or business card or ANYTHING in the package other than samplers, I could thank them personally and relay questions readers have had (is the 10yo being phased out completely?), but oh well. Down to business...
TASTING NOTES:
Feisty with spirit. Back garden smells of flowers and trees. Hard yellow plums. Quite mineral, and slightly salty. Time and water bring out a particular synthetic creaminess(Cool Whip) I absolutely love in bourbon matured whiskies.
Hard, salty licorice, honey and nuts. Apricots. A little bit of papadoms with Indian spices, pickle. Hard, woody, and quick. Water adds a lavender presence, and absolutely kills the bite... and the flavour.
SUMMARY:
A very individual Balvenie, and an odd one at that. It should be said that this is from a wee sampler and as all the 15 year olds are single barrel, this will vary from release to release. Unfortunately, there are no details of cask number, filling/bottling dates, etc. After really enjoying the 10 and 12 last week, I was a bit disappointed with this overall but appreciate its uniqueness among the Balvenie range.
Malt Mission #116
Malt Mission #117
Malt Mission #118
Malt Mission #120
Malt Mission HOME
No comments:
Post a Comment