Balvenie Peat Week 14 Year (2003 Edition)

Oh, Balvenie! You pretentious bastard, you. Your prices have always scared me a little and your whisky almost always fails to deliver at that high price point (yes, there certainly are exceptions). So, why do I keep buying your stuff? Well, because you make whisky and I am most certainly a whisky drinker. Balvenie switches over once a year, for a single week, and makes a peated expression. They then age the stuff for 14 years in ex-bourbon oak and release it as Balvenie 14 Peat Week. No need for quirky, Gaelic names here. This is the 2003 vintage and it was bottled at 48.3% ABV in 2018. It runs just shy of $70 at most sensible retailers. Hey! A reasonably priced Balvenie- who’d have thought that? Let’s delve into this one, shall we? Who was hoping I’d ask a third successive, rhetorical question? It’s a beautiful, golden yellow and very oily in the tasting glass. Undefined legs and medium-sized drops form and run slowly away from the rim when you spin it a bit. The nose is quite fruity right out of the bottle. Rich smoke and BBQ fire rise up to greet you and there’s no burn to be found. Buttery bread and vanilla sweetness round out the nosing and invite you in for a sip. The palate is BBQ brisket, sweet honeyed smoke with serious orchard fruits balancing out a wonderful mouthfeel. Luxuriously smooth and warm right where and when it counts. The oiliness coats all the corners of your mouth and linger on well into the finish. The finish has a somewhat short feel because the ABV is so well hidden. The sweetness and smoke work well enough to keep this from being too peaty (if there is such a thing) and that same smoke keeps it from being too dessert-like. I could sip this dram well into the depths of the bottle in a single sitting. I’ve had so many Balvenie offerings that I’ve decided to stop buying them and focus solely on the Peat Week vintages. These are much better than the sherry cask stuff (although I haven’t had any of the Uber-Rare Tun bottles). The $68 price I paid is beyond reasonable and there’s great value for your money here. If you like your peated whiskies a little subdued but well-balanced then this could become a go to bottle for you. Plus, you can actually brag to your friends about the Balvenie name here and pretend that you paid a lot for it, while actually not. Win/win. 4.25 stars, leaning close to 4.5. Good stuff. Cheers.

Voici donc le goût si spécial de la tourbe des Highlands. Vous aimez Balvenie? Vous aimez la tourbe? Vous ne pourrez pas être déçu. Cela ne ressemble pas vraiment à un quelconque autre scotch que j'avais pu goûter jusqu'ici. Une réussite.

Love this.

the nose is more smoke than expected, with butterscotch, and honey behind it. taste is very balanced between smoke and butterscotch, some dried fruit, fantastic

Traditional Balvenie sweet notes throughout mixed with a peat nose and earth tones Curious about the 2002 release Chalet