My brother gifted me this bottle for Christmas, so I'm listing below the current NC ABC price. I believe Aaron Rodgers has said this is his favorite daily drinker scotch, and I can see why. It is eminently drinkable.
On the nose I get a lot of honey, light vanilla, and more oak than a typical 12Y malt. Although The Balvenie website says it is finished in Oloroso for 9 months, I do not get strong hints of fruit. Maybe pitted fruits like apricots, peaches, apples, etc., but not prominent. The honey and oak are the dominant flavors on the tongue, I still don't get much fruit-forward influence from the Oloroso casks. The tannic influence from the oak is very pronounced on the finish. It lingers and coats the mouth, it is very similar to a standard bourbon finish.
Overall this is a very nice scotch but in my opinion overpriced. For one of the larger distilleries in Scotland I'm surprised this is more expensive than Macallan 12, and $15-30 more than a lot of well-known 12Y malts in the $40-60 range. I've seen Balvenie 12 at plenty of bars so I'd recommend trying it there before paying this much for a bottle. Thankfully mine was free!
72.95
USD
per
Bottle