Balmenach 13 year 2009/2023 Connoisseurs Choice (Gordon & MacPhail)

Gordon and MacPhail, Elgin, Shop Tasting, 4th May 2024, whisky #4 Nose: Dusty hay, crushed dandelions, sulphur, dates, dried figs, treacle, malt extract, marmite, menthol. Palate: The arrival is primarily malty and there is a sting from the high alcohol content, but less than expected. Dark fruits, treacle and sulphur, red wine vinegar, bitter black coffee. Adding water increases sweetness but also develops sharp spicey notes. Finish: Medium. Nutty and dry but trailing into a bitter dark chocolate and coffee aftertaste. The nose is heavily sherry influenced but not in an ideal manner, being sharp and rather sulphurous. It’s reminiscent of the smell of a packet of dried figs that has too much added sulphur preservative. Not a great nose, to be honest. The palate is similarly underwhelming being firm and, apart from initial sweetness, primarily sour. It definitely needs water to tame the 62.3%abv it but doing so is not kind to the profile as it awakens a lot of bitter tannins and further sour flavours. Balmenach is not a common single malt and this is the first expression I’ve ever tasted. Partly this is down to the distillery having been mothballed in the mid-1990s which led to a lack of mature stock for a while, but the bigger reason is that almost all of it goes for blending. The spirit is apparently well-know in the industry for being big and meaty (the stills are small and the distillery uses wormtubs) and it adds body to a blended scotch. However some critics do comment on a sulphur presence. Sadly, I did not think much of this bottling and I have a feeling the problems are down to the distillate itself rather than unfortunate maturation. I should mention that this expression has received generally good reviews elsewhere, and that most of the people at the tasting session I attended also liked it, so maybe it's just me. “Average” : 78/100 (2.75 stars)