* Sydney Balvenie whisky tasting night, 26 April 2018. Whisky #5. Nose: Ironbark honey, malt, apple conserve with cloves and cinnamon, warm Anzac biscuits (Google it if you’re not an Aussie), and a resinous thread of oak with some anise lurking in the corners. A much more cereal and earthy nose than any other Balvenie I’ve tried, with a whiff of sulphur (which I didn’t mind – it just added a funky soil note). Palate: A glorious arrival of chewy, fragrant oak. Vanilla and spices (ginger, cardamom, cinnamon), shortbread covered with milk chocolate. Dried fruit compote. A complex, multi-faceted development with heather honey, red cherries, raspberries, more spices (ginger) and some older leathery oak. A salivatingly firm, immense, mouth-coating texture. Finish: Long, long, long. Ginger spice, sweet malt balancing oak tannin. Some lighter fruity notes make a surprise appearance. It stays with you effortlessly. I was surprised by how different this whisky was to everything that had preceded it. Less of the classic Balvenie profile - woodier and muscular throughout. Another participant said she was surprised how different this was to the Batch 3 expression, which had more “juicy” characteristics. I enjoyed it a great deal and thought it to be the best whisky of the night. The 21 year old Port Wood was not far behind, but this had more complexity and was “interesting” rather than friendly. It’s a quite expensive whisky, but worth it if you have that sort of disposable income. “Excellent” : 88/100 (4.5 stars) Addendum: There was a 6th expression in the flyte but I can’t list it on Distiller. It was a hand-drawn cask sample of 35 year old Balvenie provided for us by the brand ambassador. Aged exclusively in refill bourbon and about 45% abv, it is one of the ingredients in the Tun 1509 Batch 4 and was stunning. The nose was astonishingly a return to the 12 year old doublewood, with fresh fruits and immense honey and vanilla, but also with an unmistakable maturity but hardly any oak character. The palate – well, it was like drinking liquid gold and probably the most mellow whisky I’ve ever tasted. Imagine a whisky that tastes almost like melomel and you’re getting there. It had something of a resemblance to Highland Park 18.