Balvenie The Sweet Toast of American Oak 12 Year

Nose: Very light one the nose. Vanilla, fudge, oak, ginger in syrup, oak and spice Palate: Malty, vanilla, caramel, Demerara sugar, black pepper, oak/wood, nutty, toffee, orange, citrus Finish: Long finish. Malt, charred oak, vanilla, orange, lemon, pepper, light spice. Souring on the aftertaste. There’s a lot of spicy vanilla, burnt Demerara sugar, oak and citrus on a malty backbone. This is a easy drinking malty and sweet dram. An easy drinking spirit forward dram.

On the nose I’m struck initially with minerally and musty, very unexpected from my prior experiences with Balvenie. There’s an element that reminds me of Dickel whiskey. Then apricot, honey, and oddly watermelon rind, followed by vanilla and oak. The palate carries much of the same. The finish is notable for some of the barrel spices you typically find in bourbon. I don’t know that I like this better than the 12 Doublewood. It’s more interesting and the spicy finish is nice, but the Doublewood is such an easy drinker. Update: each subsequent taste has me liking this less and less. Maybe my bottle was spoiled somehow, because there's something sour and off-putting about this. Score is falling. Dropping a full point and could go lower. Update 2: either my bottle was spoiled somehow, or I have a genetic taste thing like people who taste soap in cilantro, but I quite dislike this. The sour funk seems to keep growing.