Slainte-Mhath
Ballantine's 12 Year
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed
August 14, 2018 (edited March 5, 2024)
Low expectations have the advantage of leaving room for pleasant surprises, as happened with this 12-year-old Ballantine's. The nose is 'Auchentoshan + X': floral, light and fragrant with notes of tinned fruits, marzipan and soft spices. Certainly not bad for a blended Scotch! Heather honey, parsley and a spicy touch of oak dominate the palate, very 'smooth' although I hate to use the word. This whisky does not benefit from additional water. As with most blends, the finish doesn't linger and remains rather vague. Still, it is almost better than JW Black Label.
RATING: 3.0/5.0 stars ≙ 80 pts → AVERAGE
27.0
EUR
per
Bottle
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Agreed. All that the feed needs is minimal banner details. Putting in the whole post is pointless.
@Slainte-Mhath totally agree on the new activity feed. Hard to follow when the entire post is in the activity feed instead of just the one liner highlights. Some updates are good though—-geo-location for example
@deuce26 Not all recent changes on Distiller are bad, but the new activity feed is definitely a step into the wrong direction. Less overview instead of more! Same in the review section, tons of unnecessary information (ratings without a comment), making it rather annoying to click through the pages...
Nice review. I will definitely try it and I agree completely with you about the update. It’s awful.
I am really not a fan of the latest Distiller updates. It has become almost impossible to follow new reviews and comments in the feed, and tasting notes are now full of plain ratings without text, that it takes ages to find relevant reviews. Why list all these ratings without additional text, it really doesn't help when browsing through the comments!
Additional comment: This was the second bottle I had with me on my Around-the-World trip. While the Nikka was initially disappointing, I was really impressed by the quality of this low-cost blend. It reminded me that blends should not be overlooked and can actually be a good value, especially in times where Single Malts are getting more and more expensive...