Balvenie 14 Year American Bourbon Barrel

I don't think I've ever been the first on this site to review a whisky. Well, except maybe some odd barrel pick or some off selection ( like that odd Korean blended whisky I reviewed some years back ). I've got a love/hate thing with Balvenie. And I've discovered that their selections that aren't heavily influenced by fruit or wine casks: I absolutely adore. But once the focus becomes wine casks, red fruits fill every orifice of my face. It's quite.... unpleasant. That's not to down trod on anyone who loves wine cask finish whisky. If that's your jam, spread it on your toast and enjoy the hell out of it. But its not really my thing, inherent of my deep love affair of Bourbon. Enter: 14 year bourbon barrel. I can't wait to try this.... Whoa. The nose has a shockingly peaty quality about it. Upon first smell it's savory and umptious and has a bit of a smoked brisket quality about it. Served up with that savory peat smoke is some honey draped orange peel, citrusy but slightly bitter enveloped in thick sweetness. The taste starts very mellow and soft. Thick honey drips over orange slices. The inherent bitterness of the orange pith is lost in the peat smoke undertone. Vanilla lands mid taste with tannic charred oak. There is such a thick, tongue coating mouth feel about this one, it's really incredibly satisfying. The finish is dry, long lasting and viscous. Charred oak carries the finish to the end but right at the start of the finish you get a flash of aromatic vanilla bean on the back of your tongue. The viscous mouth feel on the taste leads to a pleasant tingle on the finish that lasts several minutes as you savor the memory of the peat smoke, oak, citrus, vanilla and honey. Wow! This reminds me a little of Week of Peat releases ( come to find out, this particular bottling was produced immediately after peat week so by happy accident the bottling took on some of the peat flavors from the batch that proceeded ). But along with that, some of the sweet / oak combo from their Sweet Toast of the American Oak, with any rough edges rounded off for good measure. It's sweet, citrusy, smokey and all around delicious. It sings to all the flavors I love in whisky and it's damn near perfect for me. Why can't this become a regular bottling in their core line up?!

My understanding is that this bottle is something of a "mistake." After Balvenie's "week of peat" bottlings, apparently something hadn't been cleaned properly, and some residual peat smokiness is apparent--so the marketing department decided to bottle it as a "collection of curious casks." There's a little speculation there, but it makes sense. Nose shows honey, orange, vanilla, cocoa, espresso, bacon, and...peat. But the peat is subtle. This whisky is indeed curious. It is definitely sweet, and there is some peat, but it does come across as unintentional--i.e., slightly less versus the intentional "sweet peat" like Ardbeg's Uigeadail or Laphroaig Distiller's Edition. All of that being said: this is indeed a "curious cask" (cask # 2657). Were there 2657 of these "curious casks?" Or more? I have no idea. It's been at least a year and a half (probably more) since I've had this. I could've sworn that I'd written a note on it, because I was aware of the "mistake" aspect. Be that as it may, I like it. And I've got 3/4 of a bottle left. This whisky appears to no longer really be available. Would I buy it again? Based on its availability (or lack thereof), probably not. But I'll enjoy the 3/4 of a bottle I have left. 4.25 on the Distiller scale.

My last experience with Balvenie was not a good one, but this one somehow pulled me in with another discounted price. Thankfully, this one's very good. Stewed honey apricots and smoke on the nose. Ashy smoke envelops the palate. It's quite surprising how much peat came through, just from not cleaning the stills after peat week. The honeyed fruit pokes through the cloud of smoke, and it all works together really well. Not a ton of complexity, but this is just really enjoyable whisky.

Distller Review No. 900 In typical Balvenie fashion, at least in my experience, this was disappointing at first taste. It’s now been open a couple months, about 3/4 of the bottle remaining, and it’s starting to blossom. Fresh apples, dried fruits, honey, barrel spices, barley sugar, and just a hint of peat, all combine to make this a delicious whisky.

Dried fruit and honey on the nose with present but not intense peat smoke. Mold on the front of the tongue that gets pleasantly astringent towards the back. Coates the mouth pleasantly. The oak barrel really comes through with the dried fruit and orange bitters. Wonderful Scotch

Nose sweet ether Palate savory spice Finish smooth long