Tag Archives: Balvenie

Balvenie 19 year “A Revelation of Cask and Character” 47.5%

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Sometimes tracking down a dram is more of an adventure than the dram itself! In this case, rumors reached our London host of something “special” being released by Balvenie, Something memorable that sold out immediately. Where there is a will, there is always a way. And in this case, it came via a Hong Kong (or was it Singapore?) connection to a London store known to many but not yet experienced by myself.

We found ourselves interacting with a very knowledgeable salesperson, who converted a quick pick stop to merely pick up the coveted bottle to an animated discussion about various malts and then other spirits. Needless to say, we did not walk out with just one bottle.

What drew us there in the first place? The Balvenie 19-year “A Revelation of Cask and Character” was released in October 2023. It is the first of their new stories series, matured in sherry casks and created as a tribute to the coopers who work at the Speyside distillery’s on-site cooperage. It was also touted as the first whisky creation of their new malt master Kelsey McKechnie, with the formal passing of the whisky baton from David C. Stewart, who shifted from malt master to ambassador.

As I didn’t take tasting notes from our experience in London, I brought home a wee sample. Which then in turn made it from London to Nurnberg to Mumbai to Kalote, Maharashtra.  Opened at the end of 2023, with some desultory jazz in the background, our cats curled purring on my feet, our dogs outside exhausted after an hour of vigorous play chasing a frisbee, it seemed just the right moment to pour a glass, relax and experience.

The Balvenie 19 year “A Revelation of Cask and Character” 47.5% GBP 309

  • Colour – A deep amber, almost having a hint of ruby
  • Nose – Fruity and vanilla, stollen, dried fruits, orange rind, toasted scones with clotted cream, apple sauce, more of that vanilla
  • Palate – Starts a bit prickly, clear wood influence, cherry pits, cherry biscotti with roasted pistachios, light chili chocolate spice, nicely balanced
  • Finish – Slightly bitter – more almond than pistachio

The nose is most enjoyable, inviting, and sweet vanilla cream with pastries. Is it the most remarkable dram of the year? Not by a long shot. And in my humble opinion, it is rather overpriced. However in a supply and demand market, clearly this one managed to catch the fancy of many folks.

Yet for a chilled-out evening in the Maharashtran countryside, it perfectly fits the mood. And for that, I was quite grateful to have an opportunity to not only experience it once, but twice.

Here are the official tasting notes:

  • Nose: Intense ripe fruits and caramelised orange peel reveal beautifully toasted oak and milled barley
  • Taste: Bold and balanced, flavours of currants, cherries and raisins give way to chewy fig, rich cacao and a creamy nutty finish.
  • Finish: Long and lingering

Hype or not, it is an enjoyable dram, just a pity it is for such a steep price tag.

If you are curious about other Balvenie experiences, read on….

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One Fine London Evening over Balvenie, Braon Peat and Kavalan

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As 2023 drew to a close, I had some time off and made the most of it by catching up with tasting notes. In the case of this trio, they were opened one special evening in London. At the time, I didn’t take any notes, just enjoyed the experience. However, as our host knows me well, we packed up three minis for later perusal. Somehow I wasn’t inclined to revisit the samples in Germany, so brought them with me to India.

Here is the trio we decided to open the evening following The Whisky Show in London.

Sukhinder chided us for going only one day to The Whisky Show, so for 2024, we resolved to go for both days. And yes, we already bought our tickets – this time it is earlier in September so the 9-month countdown has begun!

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Whisky Show 2023 – Lindores Abbey, Balvenie, Helsinki, Meikle Toir

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Call this the “Odd Bins” section of my London’s Whisky Show 2023 tasting notes. Part of the fun of exploring whiskies with a regular tasting companion is the convergence and divergence of tasting experiences. 

I had an opportunity to introduce a new Lowland distillery – Lindores Abbey – to my tasting companion, building on my experience from a Masterclass at The Messe in Nurnberg.

Equally, my companion shared the craze around the latest Balvenie 19 year “A Revelation of Cask and Character” which had completely sold out in London over the hype! 

We also found ourselves distracted near the end of our day together with a detour to Helsinki, Finland before settling on our final dram of the day – GlenAllachie’s new peat expression Meikle Toir!

Ready to join us on our wanderings? Warning – none are proper tasting notes, instead mere documentation of our tasting travels…

We began with a newer Lowland distillery with their latest limited release. Their first “The Friar John Cor” expression sold out immediately! I had a chance to try at The Village in Nurnberg earlier in the year, but was suffering so much from dental issues that I headed practically straight home after the Lindores Abbey masterclass. 

Lindores Abbey The Friar John Cor “The Cask Strength Congregation” Chapter 2 Bourbon, STR & Peated Rum casks 60.9% 

I skipped tasting this new The Friar John Cor however was happy my companion tried both their core expression and this one. At cask strength, it could pack a punch however my tasting companion found it surprisingly approachable. It took a whiff and thought it had a lovely sweetness with some earthy peat elements too. This comes from the cask combination of ex-bourbon, STR, and peated rum casks.

The Balvenie 19 year “A Revelation of Cask and Character” 47.5% GBP 309

We then moved on to the latest craze – a new 19 year old release from Balvenie. Curiously this whisky apparently sold out as soon as it was released! Sometimes whisky hype surpasses reality. In this case, knowing we would be tasting this dram the next day at home, I didn’t even attempt it – just took a whiff and thought “pas mal”, preferring to wait another day to give it proper attention. 

And we closed our day, we snuck in two more drams.

Helsinki Rye Malt Release #14 American Virgin Oak + Rum Cask Finish 47.5%

What did we find? It was unpeated, a bit funky but fun. Think of rye bread with some caramel. Then joined by fresh pine? On the palate, it was quite heavy and oily, revealing a decided rum quality – reminiscent of an Agricole rum. Quite different.

Meikle Toir 5 year The Chinquapin One 48%

GlanAllachie has decided to go in a peaty direction – in a consistent way with their Meikle Toir brand. With a completely separate website. it is their new big pursuit (ie Meikle Toir) with a focused devotion to peat. As I knew trying all four wasn’t going to happen, I asked which is the ONE to be tried above all others? And was directed to The Chinquapin One.

What did I discover? A lovely sweet peat – quite a gentle smoke. It reminded me a little of toasted raisin bread with a dash of cinnamon. I would certainly need to spend more time and a different setting to discover more.

Here is what they have to say:

Coming in at 35 PPM, the whisky has a sweeter style of smoke character owing to the mainland peat from St. Fergus used to kiln the barley. After a lengthy 160-hour fermentation, the whisky has a complex character which stands up well to ageing in virgin oak casks.

  • Nose: Smoldering oak embers, burnt liquorice and honey, with ginger, butterscotch and orange peel.
  • Taste: Cocoa, crème brûlée and toasted almonds, with cinnamon, aniseed and campfire smoke.

As for the others? They will simply have to wait another time to be explored…

With that, our Whisky Show experience of 2023 came to a close!

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Balvenie evening in Mumbai

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Now I have to admit, this post is rather late… the event occurred many months ago in Mumbai at the St Regis – Aug 28, 2019 to be precise.

The occasion was sparked by the Mumbai visit of Gemma Paterson, Global Brand Ambassador for The Balvenie. We had visions of a very private evening with just a few tables, proper sit down tasting with interesting anecdotes and insights into The Balvenie distillery, its people, the whiskies. The usual masterclass format.

Nope! It was a complete jam of people, a mash up of inaudible stories and poetry, flute and was.. well… unexpected.

True – the cocktails flowed generously and one after another tasting glasses with different expressions of The Balvenie made their rounds but it was a far cry from being able to connect with someone close to the whisky makers, who is known for collecting stories or being able to truly focus on the whiskies.

Which is exactly why I have zero tasting notes, only a recollection we were partial to the 14 year…

Which is exactly why I dug up notes from some of our other Balvenie experiences as it would be a shame to miss insights into this distillery and its drams:

With such a crowd, the St Regis did a brilliant job with the food and keeping the throngs happy. But as a whisky event, I couldn’t even hear Gemma speak let alone meet and make some kind of connection. Which is ultimately for me what is terrific about the whisky fabric – the way different lives and experiences are woven together over exploring and enjoying a good dram.

On a more personal note, it was terrific to see so many familiar folks so close before my move to Germany. For that alone it was a good evening, so Slainthe!

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Red Casks – Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask 43%

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Our original tasting group was in for a surprise! A special theme of unusual finishes, first sampled completely whisky blind without bias…

Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask 43%

  • Nose – Fruity, floral and distinctly ‘feni’-like, some citrus, distinctly ‘prickly’, syrup, salted cashews… as it settled down, started to reveal a nice oily aroma, a sweet and sour of khoya, strongly reminded us of a gulab jamun, toffee cream chocolate, spice… after the 1st sip, had a nice vanilla biscuit, retaining the gulab jamun chased by salted caramel, rum spiked honey water
  • Palate – Initially greeted us with a spicy ginger, salt then gentle tobacco, something of substance and a bit astringent, yet still heavy oils, chewy, butter biscuit, a good balance… if you the breathed it in were rewarded with khatta meetha  or sour sweet
  • Finish – A bitter pepper spice that sparked a debate – lingering with orange peel and almond or short yet balanced? I was in the camp that found after the initial oomph… the shadow of the finish remained
  • Water – After it initially sharpened the spice, it settled down to make this whisky more pleasant and mellow on the palate however didn’t reveal anything new

Overall we found the aromas quite volatile when freshly open, taking some time to settle down… and interesting.

There was loads of speculation… we didn’t think it was sherry cask but there was definitely something different going on. One member was clear it was rum, others not convinced.

And the reveal?

Well our rum speculator was spot on!

What did we try in our special “red” casks evening?

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The Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask 43%

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Gotta love how whisky becomes a world traveller. This particular Balvenie started its life in Scotland with the usual approach but then was finished in ex-rum barrels from the Caribbean. Then made its way to Taiwan where it was purchased for the Whisky Ladies of Mumbai, India.

What did we think? Read on!

Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask 43% (from Taiwan)

  • Nose – Lemon curd, caramel very spring-like, no question there was a rum influence, loads of rum raisins, dry fruits, nuts, chocolate, cloves, quite pronounced honeyed rum, after sipping and some time, it settled into something almost floral
  • Palate – Not as pushy on the palate as it is on the nose, toffee, mellow, then became a bit sour, then a lot more spice
  • Finish – Very sweet, ripe plums
  • Water – Don’t…. reduces it to flavoured water

Overall it was pronounced enjoyable. And while clearly part of the ‘standard stable’, the rum finish is a nice touch.

Here is what the folks at The Balvenie have to say:

  • NOSE Rich, sweet and creamy toffee on the nose combines with fresh fruit notes
  • TASTE Rounded with vanilla and sweet oak notes, with a fruity character that develops with time
  • FINISH Soft and lingering

Our core focus was a trio with a wee ‘appetizer’ blend:

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Whisky Live Singapore – Balvenie

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I’m nearing the end of my Whisky Live Singapore ‘speed dates‘… I made zero attempt to get to all booths, instead I wandered, meandered, stopping where fancy struck. In a few cases, I planned to return but didn’t yet there was no regret… all that means is more to explore at the next one!

Next up is a wee nip of Balvenie…

2016-11-12-balvenie-trio

I will admit to skipping over the 12 year and Caribbean Cask 14 year to go straight to the Doublewood 17 year.

2016-11-12-balvenie-17-yrThe DoubleWood 17 Year Old has a lovely honey vanilla nose, crisp orchard fruit, spicy,  toffee… in short lip smacking good!

And then Neil Strachan, Regional Brand Ambassador SouthEast Asia intervened with this secret little beauty…

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Balvenie (1994/17 Nov 2015) 56.1% Cask No 4013

This was a dram savoured and enjoyed without scribbles… just because sometimes one just needs to stop and experience.

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Other Balvenie’s sampled include:

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Balvenie Triple Cask 12 years 40%

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From the whisky archives (Oct 2013) came an amusing evening which concluded the Balvenie Triple Cask was…

The guy who tries to be 1st in class, lovely to meet, some possibilities but…

So why did we think Balvenie Triple Cask was the smart kid in the class?

Read on…

Photo: The Whisky Exchange

Photo: The Whisky Exchange

Balvenie Triple Cask 12 year 40%

  • Colour – A rich golden hue, clearly not light straw but also not deep either
  • Nose – We found wiffs of currents, raisins, vanilla, orange, cinnamon even a bit of butterscotch. All pronounced to be very ‘christmasy’ in character and quite promising
  • Palate – Not as complex and nuanced as the notes would suggest. We found it lightly peated, with a peach sweetness.
  • Finish – Remained largely in the mouth, not complex, but still rather nice.

Most speculated it must be a younger speyside, around 40%, still a bit “green” yet didn’t detract from being quite a nice sipping whisky.

While most considered it too mild to add water, we gamely put in a few drops to see the results – only diluted the taste, shifting to a bit of harness yet still sweet. Our vote? Neat is best with this one!

2013-10-17-OakLeague

Back in 2013, it was a new offering for the duty-free market – boasting (as the name suggests) maturation in three different casks: first-fill bourbon, refill bourbon and sherry.

Here’s what the folks over at Balvenie have to say:

Elegantly sweet and spicy, with a mellow taste of dried fruits, vanilla and cinnamon

Also sampled the same evening:

  • Wasmund’s – The bad boy you just wanna go a little wild with and can’t resist!
  • The Speyside – The guy you can count on, a companion. In short – the marrying type!

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