The Balvenie Single Barrel 15 Year Old
Distillery: The BalvenieStyle: Single Malt
Release: Unspecified
Age: 15 Years
Alcohol: 47.8% abv.
Region: Scotland, Highlands
Bottled For: Distillery
The Balvenie Single Barrel Single Malt Scotch Whisky is a 15 year old single malt which is drawn from a single bourbon cask of a single distillation. Each cask forms a limited edition of hand-numbered bottles - there will be a maximum of 350 bottles from any one cask - so each bottle is unique and unrepeatable. Each cask is subtly different, however, The Balvenie Malt Master selects for bottling only those casks that have the essential characteristics of The Balvenie Single Barrel - particularly honey, vanilla and oaky notes.
Color: light honey
Nose: warm honey and vanilla, moss
Body: warm, full bodied
Palate: honey, toast, earth and vanilla
Finish: medium finish, warming to the end
excellent 15 year old scotch, this paticular one was aged 17 years according to the notes on the bottle. quite the difference when adding water as opposed to serving neat. water opens it up quite a bit, but i would suggest serving it neat to get a comparison. great addition to the range.
Color: Amber, orange
Nose: Fruity, Peat, Smoky
Body: Medium body,
Palate: Honey, Candy, Port,
Finish: Very short finish, but warm and sweet till the end
This is a very sweet Whisky in my opinion, probably best saved for ladies. I think the price is a bit high for what you get --- smooth, but too sweet for a good taste of peat. UPDATE 2/28/2008: Tried a different run of this stuff, It's light, strong without water. It has a long finish, but isn't too interesting. Nose of iodine and some floral tones. Like fresh honey. Rating is still 77.
Color: light amber
Nose: honey, hint of citrus - maybe orange peel, very slight suggestion of smoke
Body: full
Palate: honey character carries over from the nose with slight citrus, a hint of peat and a bit peppery
Finish: nice finish, not overly long
This is a really nice dram, full bodied, full of honey and a bit of orange with a bit of peat. Not at fruity as the 10 yr. Not exactly cheap, but worth the price.
Color: Dark Straw
Nose: Some nose tickle here; earthy nose with contrasting fruit and aged cheeses; some toffee, marzipan and hints of coconut
Body: Medium body, warming and outh coating
Palate: Strong attack at first sip, peppery and warm, gets smoother with a swirl of flavors dominated by beeswax then warm marzipan and roasted marshmellow
Finish: Medium finish thats peppery with drier oak notes, a little sweetness lingers with the wax
I found the cheese notes a little incongruous with the other taste profiles. Overall an interesting dram with a very different palate. Those that like a strong peppery taste will like this one.