Balvenie Portwood 21 Year

It’s time to revisit a dram I had a pour of back at Whiskyfest DC in April 2018: Balvenie 21 Port Wood. I didn’t pay much attention nor ask questions at the festival as to whether the bottle they were pouring from was the diluted 40% or the elevated one. I was pretty disappointed with it so I’m going to assume it was the weaker one. I had a bottle at home and hoped to give it a more thorough turn, even though my bottle was also the 40% variety. Flash forward 9 months and I decided to go ahead and crack this expensive, well aged Balvenie. It’s a deep gold in the taster with watery, wide legs and medium droplets left behind on the rim. The color doesn’t really give much indication of port barrel finishing either. Huh. The nose is predominantly honey and sherry cask, harsher oak tones and very little port sweetness. Having tried this over the course of two months I’ve let it breathe to different lengths of time and couldn’t detect much of a change from 5 minutes out to over half an hour. The palate does deliver on the port characteristics right out of the gate: there’s grape must and simple sugar to the point it feels cavity-inducing. The depth of the 21 year old juice is also apparent- there’s no harshness, although it does feel decidedly one-dimensional. It’s watery and too sweet. This is where I think one needs to try the stronger ABV bottle. This needs more grunt. The finish is medium and relatively mellow. The grape-y, sugary-ness does linger but I don’t really want it to. I really wanted some power, some oak, anything to remind me I’m drinking whisky. Sadly, nothing materializes. Overall, this 40% version is a poor example of what Balvenie is capable of. I’ve had quite a few mediocre offerings from these guys and if you factor in the higher than most price point it’s a bust. I paid $160 for this bottle and I know I could’ve found 2 bottles of some other port finished whisky that would’ve been significantly better. Leave the 40% version on the shelf if you see it. 2.5 stars. Cheers.

Luke's Whiskeyfest 2018 Exceedingly smooth, oak, vanilla