Tastes

Hmm, honey, vanilla, spice, apricots and almonds on the nose and palate. Also accompanied on the taste side with light ashy peat. Nice, I like the combination. I couldn't remember if I've had a virgin oak peat combination, it's been while. Glenglassaugh peated virgin which was also nice. Good match. It gets better and better over time. 4.25.

The official notes sum it up well. Candy notes, red berries, and interestingly tobacco, not a common tasting descriptor but must remember it. They've done well here, I dropped a bunch of water in and it opened up a bit. Good quality drop but I wouldn't say it's exciting. Solid 4.

The nose is interesting. Strawberry, berry liquor.. it's one of those times I really get annoyed I can't put a finger on what I'm tasting or smelling. There is something else it reminds me of. Stronger on the ethanol but a few drops of water calm it down. The finish is strong enough to almost balance it out. It's not crafted nearly as well as the Balblair I had last night. I think I'd compare it to the Tyrconnell 10 sherry. Loads of flavour but rougher round the edges; if you'd had a few drams you'd definitely rate it higher than if it's first up as your tongue needs to be numb to the ethanolly nature. I'm not a nose man but I prefer the nose to the palate in this case. If I could vapourise and inhale this one I would. Red current gummies someone noted which matched what I smelt or sweet fruit compote (wohoo I had an original thought). It's almost like someone crossed mild chilli peppers and strawberries. Anyway off my meandering soapbox and on to rating. Nose 4.5. Taste 3.5...rating 3.75 it is. A rare dram where the quality of the nose pulls the palate off the floor, dusts it up and makes the combined package more than average. Afterthought: I went away did drunk dad trampoling with the kids and tried it again. Taste improved a fair bit..psychology, air, my tongue numbing to the ethanolliness or the chimay and garage project dessert lager all started kicking in..or something else but I've adjusted my taste rating up to 3.5. Overall rating stays the same.

I've had quite a few Balblairs and found they were all solid if unspectacular. This dram is definitely a step above those though. Perfect balance, beautiful vanilla and as @Scott_E noted tea notes (thanks Scott I'm generally crap at putting a name to any unique flavours I taste). Mild spice and apricots, creme brulee, sultanas, gingerbread. Numm, numm. It's impressive as this isn't a style that usually makes an impact. Maybe its because of poor effort in the form of comparison the Glencadam 25 I had before it but I agree with Scott E on rating as well. 4 at least out of the gate. No make it a 4.25...it gets better and better as the dram progresses. Finally an excellent Balblair!

I'm really not sure why I purchased this sample as I thought the 18 year was pretty crap and the 21 barely above average...I must have bought them all together, been asleep at the wheel or just generally more tolerant of averageness. These days distilleries only get so many chances and they're cut. This one was in no danger from rocking the boat. Green apple, citrus, light vanilla and a bit of spice....light on the flavour in general. I left it a while dropped a few drops of water in and that helped a bit, though the green apple bitterness was still in the aftertaste. 3.25

Hmm, peat, nutts vanilla, slightly sulfuric / tanninic sherry. Initially I thought slightly overwooded. Unlike some drams where the things that bug me get more and more prominent, this whiskey I settle into more and more. Prunes, dark fruit, very interesting dram. It's good but I'm slightly torn on how good, I think it's one you really need a bottle to work through over time perhaps. Its more complex and has more depth than the 18 from memory but not sure about the balance of certain aspects. By the end I was thinking definitely a 4.25.

3rd Kalavan. Podium I gave a 3.75. This has a lovely candied orange bananas honeyish nose, and on the palate its it's a viscous drop. You do get a slight bitterness or sourness coming through accompanied by oakiness but the balance isn't too badly out of kilter with the rest of the honey caramel flavour. Although the more I drink it gets more prominent. Shortish afertaste. It's a hard one this one swings between a 3.5 and 3.75 I think

Hmm I'm with the majority rating on this one. It starts off good but then you get quite an astringent grapefruit ethanolly bitter aftertaste which from memory bedevils other offerings as well. It's one of my three dislikes and the more I drink this the more prominent it becomes. Water and time seem to make it worse. There are a number of distillery's I'm forswearing in 2019 and this one is at the top of the list.

The final dram of the lot and my 2nd favorite. As mentioned in my review of the Sovereign version of their whiskey their typical style of peated whiskey is the lighter peated profile. Almost reminds me of Highland Park in a way (the peat profile) which is why I liked this range. The last dram of the flight of several was an excellent end to the tasting. I really enjoyed sitting back and chatting to David. He even invited my two kids in and chatted away to them and let them have a look round the distillery. Top bloke! Anyhow this is similar to the std 46% peat dialled up a notch. As David mentioned you get almost a 'snap crackle pop' bursts of flavour on your tongue which a few drops of water evened out. All in all I'm impressed by the craftsmanship. The lighter style of whiskey is not my preference but David won me round. He waited for several years before releasing any whiskey and his patience, chemical /food science background and attention to detail really shine through in the whiskey. I'm looking forward to trying the tasting pack I bought with friends back in NZ.

In their other peated expressions David mentioned that they aimed for the Highland style/source of peated barley vs typical Islay/Island style. Also the ppm are around the 20 mark vs your usual ~ double for most of the main islay distilleries. The aim was to ensure balance and not over power the other components of the whiskies. All David's whiskey were very well balanced which is important for the type of speyside profile dram and shows true craftsmanship. Anyhow 8 years ago he was offered a load of peated Belgian malt. He said he got offers all the time so didn't think much of it but when he sampled it he knew he had something special on his hands so bought a few pallet loads. 8 years later this was the result. Apparently we'd need to wait for another 8 years if he's going to do it again. Anyhow the dram itself is really nice. The malty vanilla balancing out with the islay style peat profile. Very nice and my favorite of the range. Sadly not in my tasting pack I bought as this just landed 5 weeks ago. They had a naming competition and out of several hundred entries his son wittled them down to a select few and there were two names they were in agreement on so they used both on the label. Sovereign Smoke and Defiantly Peated.