Reverend357
Balvenie Portwood 21 Year
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
December 1, 2018 (edited December 2, 2018)
And so it begins, the anual tradition of a customized advent calendar. Made sure everything I put into it was available on Distiller, but have no idea anymore what I put into it. This is gonna be interesting.
Day 1 we start strong, the Balvenie Port has been on my list for a very long time. Port finish is probably one of my favorites.
The nose starts with sweet raisins, milk chocolate and some baking spices. Perfect for the season to be honest.
This continues on the taste with the same chocolate note dominating, while the raisins turn into all sorts of dark fruits and the spices get a bit blunted by a very distinct honey note. They still add that bit of oompf to the mix that prevents this from becoming a overly sweet mess.
The finish is sweet spices and chocolate, plus a bit of warmth. This one would fit very nicely in front of a fireplace while watching the snow fall. It isn't quite a five star, and I really doubt any non peated whisky will ever reach a full five with the new quarter points available, but it is very close and a great start into my least favorite season of the year. Just not a christmas person, but I could get used to the idea of "a sample a day".
This is one of the higher priced whiskys that I would actually buy. 175 is a fair and appropriate price for it. If you like sweeter whisky that is,
175.0
EUR
per
Bottle
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@Reverend357 Good review. I really enjoyed this one despite the low abv. Have another sample around I'm looking forward to trying sometime
@PBMichiganWolverine good to know, thanks! nothing ever got less expensive, so if it's not too much more, still worth it for samples. whole bottles where always a lot more expensive than in my local store.
@Reverend357 @Slainte-Mhath they’ll still ship after Brexit. The shipping to US is a function of our stupid 3 tier system. EU doesn’t have that. They’ll still ship to EU, but the tax will be different
@deuce26 thanks :) glad Master of Malt still ships them to mainland europe...we'll see what happens next year after the brexit...
@Slainte-Mhath: yeah, the proof is a bit disappointing. I'm not sure if cask strength would fit this whisky, but about 45-48 would be a nice improvement.
@Reverend357 great review and love your custom Advent Calendar. Merry Christmas.
Balvenie 21 yo PortWood is one of these malts that suffer from low ABV (40%), which is a shame for such an expensive flagship whisky. I tried it on several occasions, and yes it is very nice, but it's also a bit diluted and could be so much better. At current price tags, I would not buy a bottle, and rather opt for one of their Single Barrels at higher proof, if I was in the mood for Balvenie.