The Balvenie Single Barrel 15 Year

I ordered a Springbank 15, they billed me for this. Whichever it was, I really enjoyed it.

Balvenie is one distillery that has given me a lot of dissapointing experiences. And i know it is a favorite among some whisky enthusiasts and collectors, but i always find it excessively light and boring. Well, i got a sample from this famous expression to see if it can change my mind about this distillery. Beautiful reddish blood color, bottled at 47.8%abv. On the nose it is very appealing, specially as soon as you pour the dram. Red fruits, an incredible hazelnut note; nose is quite beautiful. Chocolate butter. A sawdust note hids in the back. It is like a sherry wood syrup if that exists. If i wouldn't know that this is a Balvenie, i would have guessed it was an Aberlour. A nice spiciness is present and citrus notes appear every 20 seconds. After a first sip a Hanuta / Nutella aroma appeared; the sawdust has intensified. Dark Chocolate. On the palate it has a sherry, winey flavor. Very spicy. It doesn't resemble any other light Balvenies that i often critiziced. The second sip was lighter, a little watery as most expressions from this distillery, but the pepper bomb that follows, covers it up to score some more points and hide the flaws. A third sip revealed how really light and watery it is. Drops the ball. Dim vanilla and sawdust. (I wrote this while holding the whisky in the palate). There is a nice spiciness on the Aftertaste. Sherriness is very well crafted in here. Some brown sugar notes and crazy dips. There is some salty finish that has breached through the sherry profile. Aftertaste kept some power after a few sips and manages to get decent points. Overall, this is one of the best Balvenies i have had, without been something special. The overload of sherriness here almost accomplished the mision of hiding how light and uninteresting this spirit is. My usual opinion on this distillery is that it is mostly watery and after a couple of sips of the first glass that opinion became a fact once more. Having said that, this ranks second amongst Balvenies that i haven't been totally dissapointed, (the other, actually very good one, is the peat week expression). My score for it is 87 over 100.

That’ll do nicely.

I haven't done one of these in a while. Not because I have not been drinking whisky but I have been exploring a lot of single cask IB which doesn't lend to reviews since each barrel is so idiosyncratic. I recently did a side-by-side tasting of this 15-year old Balvenie aged exclusively in ex-Sherry barrels alongside the 12-year old Balvenie aged exclusively in ex-Bourbon barrels. They provided a perfect contrast and example of the two styles and really accentuated what the two casks bring to the table. In the case of the 15-year ex-Sherry: This bottle is from cask# 8967 and even though a single-cask, it is not cask strength and is proofed down to a respectable 47.8% The nose was very fruity with hints of raisins and plum. The palate was sweet and spicy with figs, cinnamon and a hint of the honey Balvenie spirit coming through. Not a sherry bomb by any means. More subtle. The NCF and higher abv helps make this a much better than average dram. The finish was medium length with some baking spice and the characteristic Balvenie sweetness. The color was so dark and perfect that I thought it was colored but while I cannot be certain it appears to be natural color. The deep brown is a great contrast with the strong deep yellow of the 12-year ex-Bourbon. While this is definitely a cask-driven whisky the Balvenie distillate does have a characteristic that is there and takes well to the sherry cask: you still know it's a Balvenie. This is another really great example of a harmonious marriage of cask and spirit and Balvenie seems to really shine at this. This bottle and the the 12-year ex-Bourbon along with the Double wood (which is a mixture of both cask types) are the perfect examples of the Balvenie style to me. It is a sneaky whisky in that it doesn't have lots of complexity but it is very easy to drink and enjoy so I often overlook it.

Party of a really nice whiskey flight from our anniversary dinner. Nose - big sherry bomb, ripe dark fruits, figs, brown sugar, some lighter floral and honey notes as well Palette - medium body, rich and spice forward, strong sherry influence with ripe sweet plums and figs Finish - long lingering rich spice notes, medium burn

Cherry, apple pie, oak on the nose. Melon, aged cheese, caramel on the palate. Spice, funk, pepper on the finish. Something excellent on the finish that I can’t describe