Damon_Elliot
Balvenie Single Barrel 12 Year
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
December 26, 2016 (edited December 25, 2020)
In the glencairn, the whisky is pale gold, like midwinter sunlight. The newly uncorked whisky's first and most obvious aroma is that of unripe, green banana. Further in, I discern hard cider, fresh pineapple, light vanilla, and desert lime. The palate reminds me of a Gose; and like the beer, this single malt tastes salty and yeasty, while its maltiness is sour. More patience reveals sage, banana cream, and lemon poppyseed bread. The midpalate is toasty and malty, and the finish is wonderfully salty, warming, and elevating. The aftertaste adds to the panoply of flavors hints of espresso and cinnamon. This dram has an astonishing complexity and is one I'm so glad to have the whole bottle to enjoy. Also, Kory and I often wait to open new bottles till we're together, and we never share notes till we feel comfortable with our initial judgments. We both put 'unripe banana' as the first note for this one. So contra the naysayers, no, beverage tasting isn't just subjective nonsense.
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Normally, I avoid reading other malt reviews before I have written my own. Once posted, it's very interesting to see what other people found on their flavor hunt. Taste and smell is subjective but you will discover that many fellow malt mates find similar things, as Davie pointed out. Hence, I do agree with Damon that tasting notes are NOT subjective nonsense!
Exceptional review, and excellent topic for discussion! Slainte is bang on, as usual, whisky tasting is a hobby that rewards preparation, patience and even reflective meditation. A crowded, noisy and many-scented restaurant environment is deffo NOT the locale for productive mental rumination. And as for subjective personal descriptions, I was very careful NOT to read other reviews for my latest post on the Oamaruvian, and was delighted to find many others experienced 90% of the same notes... sweet, sweet validation...
You're spot on! That's one of my favorite things about whisky. It forces you to quiet down, be in the present moment, and take things one sip at a time.
Testing conditions are very important! Some whiskies need a lot of time to open up, so it doesn't make sense to pop the cork, take a sniff and a quick dram and conclude with a rating right away. I am not rating/reviewing every whisky I am tasting, especially when having a dram at a bar with a lot of distractions. When reviewing a malt, I need at least 2-3 drams during the course of a week in a quiet environment (at home), and without any distractions. Usually, I have some days in between without whisky to contemplate and compare with other malts I have reviewed in the past. Sometimes it takes a few days before I realize that this is good stuff - or surprisingly disappointing. We all have expectations before opening a new bottle, but does the dram really fulfill our expectations? Takes time to find the answer.