LeeEvolved
Balvenie Portwood 21 Year
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
January 24, 2019 (edited February 26, 2020)
It’s time to revisit a dram I had a pour of back at Whiskyfest DC in April 2018: Balvenie 21 Port Wood. I didn’t pay much attention nor ask questions at the festival as to whether the bottle they were pouring from was the diluted 40% or the elevated one. I was pretty disappointed with it so I’m going to assume it was the weaker one. I had a bottle at home and hoped to give it a more thorough turn, even though my bottle was also the 40% variety.
Flash forward 9 months and I decided to go ahead and crack this expensive, well aged Balvenie. It’s a deep gold in the taster with watery, wide legs and medium droplets left behind on the rim. The color doesn’t really give much indication of port barrel finishing either. Huh.
The nose is predominantly honey and sherry cask, harsher oak tones and very little port sweetness. Having tried this over the course of two months I’ve let it breathe to different lengths of time and couldn’t detect much of a change from 5 minutes out to over half an hour.
The palate does deliver on the port characteristics right out of the gate: there’s grape must and simple sugar to the point it feels cavity-inducing. The depth of the 21 year old juice is also apparent- there’s no harshness, although it does feel decidedly one-dimensional. It’s watery and too sweet. This is where I think one needs to try the stronger ABV bottle. This needs more grunt.
The finish is medium and relatively mellow. The grape-y, sugary-ness does linger but I don’t really want it to. I really wanted some power, some oak, anything to remind me I’m drinking whisky. Sadly, nothing materializes.
Overall, this 40% version is a poor example of what Balvenie is capable of. I’ve had quite a few mediocre offerings from these guys and if you factor in the higher than most price point it’s a bust. I paid $160 for this bottle and I know I could’ve found 2 bottles of some other port finished whisky that would’ve been significantly better. Leave the 40% version on the shelf if you see it. 2.5 stars. Cheers.
159.0
USD
per
Bottle
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I agree, this is perhaps the most overrated whisky on this entire app. It’s not bad but if you consider the value it really deserves 2 stars
@LeeEvolved - will never again in my life spend a penny on anything under 43% ABV.
@SolanaRoots exactly—I think the 12 is a great intro scotch. I’ve not had the 21 (Madeira or Port). But I’ve had the 15, and Tun1401 and Tun1509. If you ever get a chance, see if you can get a pour of the Tun1401. To this day, it’s one of the best I’ve ever had
@PBMichiganWolverine oh man, I’m a huge fan of the 12 Yr Doublewood & 12 Yr Single Barrel. The Doublewood is the first bottle I grab to introduce someone to scotch
Goes back to my firm belief that if you’re gonna buy Balvenie, the only good one <$100 is the Peat Week. Over $100, the Tun1401 was one of the best whiskies I’ve had. Unfortunately those are now $700+.
Ah interesting as I really liked the sample I had. It rates really high on distiller overall as well. I think I have another one somewhere so will have to reevaluate
@cascode Good advice. And if I recall correctly, it was @Camardicus who gave a 5-star rating to a version that was 47.6% non-chill filtered travel retail. That’s the bottle that’s probably worth seeking out
Good review, and you mentioned something that had eluded me previously. I first tasted this a while back at a Balvenie masterclass and was very impressed, but when I bought a bottle subsequently it was a big disappointment, and I agree only worth 2-3 stars. However I was unaware that it had ever been released at higher abv, as the domestic stocks were only ever 40%. I found the photos I took with my phone at the masterclass and checked - lo and behold, it was a 1 litre 43% bottle that must have been imported by the brand ambassador or picked up travel retail. I think it's safe to say as a general rule - avoid the 40% bottlings of this at all costs.
Sad, but true. I wouldn't bother to buy a bottle of this.
@LeeEvolved Disappointing to hear. Agree with @Generously_Paul that the Glen Moray sounds like a cheaper alternate given your overall rating here.
For $28 you can get the Glen Moray Classic Elgin Port Finish. That’s a decent dram for $130 less. Take the savings and buy a Lagavulin DE
I think it should be illegal to sell a whisky for $160 at only 40 percent ABV.
@PBMichiganWolverine - I think the key to this one is to seek out the 46% initial release and not the 40%. There’s too many wildly varied reviews of this to make sense of one over another.
This sucks. One would think for an expensive 21 yr old brand name Speysider, it would be better