The flagship Balvenie 12 was one of my very first single malts, and obviously I enjoyed it enough to continue on a long, frutiful (expensive) whisky journey after. But, strangely, I've given basically zero thought to the Balvenie as a distillery since then--there was always just so much else out there to try. But I am chastened, because I have discovered today that the Caribbean Cask is a gorgeous whisky. Smell is the Balvenie signature heather honey, some floral, and then a big wad of apples and fresh cut pineapple. Huge caramel/butterscotch and fresh vanilla. A touch of cream, and perhaps a bit of sugarcane sweetness. The taste cannot quite compete with the lushness of the nose, but it's still a thing of beauty: honey, sugarcane, apples, pineapples, pears in sugar syrup, ever-so-light smoke, and then--just on the tail--a bit of that Jamaican rum-funk and some molasses sweetness. A faint soggy bitterness on the finish (fruit rind? some citrus bitterness, more rum funk) is the lone weakness of an otherwise creamy, rich, flavourful whisky. A surprise on two fronts, because (despite the rum finish) it's not too sweet, and it's not over-the-top rummy. It's just damned delicious. Drop the price by $10-15, and I'd make this an everyday sip.