Balvenie Peat Week 14 Year (2003 Edition)

Nose: Earthy peat smoke with some medicinal qualities. Yet, there are still plenty of sweet, floral notes, not overpowered by the smokiness. Butterscotch, vanilla, honey, and lemon. Apple, apricot, and a big cantaloupe note. Spearmint. Despite the peat, many of Balvenie's hallmark characteristics manage to shine. The longer it sits in the glass, the more prevalent a smoked meat/BBQ note becomes. Salted caramel. Very nice. Palate: Here, the smoke hits harder than on the nose, right off the bat. Honey, vanilla, apple, and melon move to the forefront after the initial smoke dissipates. Oaky. Dark chocolate as well as milk chocolate. Some menthol and medicinal notes. Heavy salted caramel. Ballpark soft pretzel. Pencil shavings. Finish: The heat picks back up on the finish. First it's a fiery cinnamon spice. This is followed by smoked meat, ribs, and bacon. And heavy smoke the whole while. The oak influence makes itself known on the way. Vanilla and sugar cookie are in there as well. Pencil shavings. Red pepper, black bean chili brings the heat. Long finish. Overall, this a solid whisky. I've yet to have a peated Speyside that changes the game; and while this one is enjoyable, it falls short of doing so. It's distinctly unique from Islay/Island whiskies; and while it's good, it doesn't quite measure up to the cream of the crop. The nose and the finish are the strong points, while the palate feels like a bit of a letdown wedged between those two. It's a worthy effort from Balvenie, but at the price point, I need just a little more oomph to give it a higher rating. I'll give it a 4.25, down from the 4.5 I was expecting to the give it before running one last trial. I've heard great things about the 2002 vintage, and I will certainly be checking out the 2004 when it hits shelves. If you're an Islay drinker looking for a change of pace, consider trying this one. It's pretty good stuff. Edit: I decided to sit on this one for a couple days and then retest it. I'm going to bump this one up to a 4.5. The palate is better than I gave it credit for this time, which is consistent with some of my earlier tastings. Great whisky from start to finish. It's pricy, but you get your money's worth with this one. Edit 2: Revisiting this 6 and a half years later. The palate is a much stronger component of the whisky. I’m able to pick up on more of the nuance at play here. Excellent.

Oh, Balvenie! You pretentious bastard, you. Your prices have always scared me a little and your whisky almost always fails to deliver at that high price point (yes, there certainly are exceptions). So, why do I keep buying your stuff? Well, because you make whisky and I am most certainly a whisky drinker. Balvenie switches over once a year, for a single week, and makes a peated expression. They then age the stuff for 14 years in ex-bourbon oak and release it as Balvenie 14 Peat Week. No need for quirky, Gaelic names here. This is the 2003 vintage and it was bottled at 48.3% ABV in 2018. It runs just shy of $70 at most sensible retailers. Hey! A reasonably priced Balvenie- who’d have thought that? Let’s delve into this one, shall we? Who was hoping I’d ask a third successive, rhetorical question? It’s a beautiful, golden yellow and very oily in the tasting glass. Undefined legs and medium-sized drops form and run slowly away from the rim when you spin it a bit. The nose is quite fruity right out of the bottle. Rich smoke and BBQ fire rise up to greet you and there’s no burn to be found. Buttery bread and vanilla sweetness round out the nosing and invite you in for a sip. The palate is BBQ brisket, sweet honeyed smoke with serious orchard fruits balancing out a wonderful mouthfeel. Luxuriously smooth and warm right where and when it counts. The oiliness coats all the corners of your mouth and linger on well into the finish. The finish has a somewhat short feel because the ABV is so well hidden. The sweetness and smoke work well enough to keep this from being too peaty (if there is such a thing) and that same smoke keeps it from being too dessert-like. I could sip this dram well into the depths of the bottle in a single sitting. I’ve had so many Balvenie offerings that I’ve decided to stop buying them and focus solely on the Peat Week vintages. These are much better than the sherry cask stuff (although I haven’t had any of the Uber-Rare Tun bottles). The $68 price I paid is beyond reasonable and there’s great value for your money here. If you like your peated whiskies a little subdued but well-balanced then this could become a go to bottle for you. Plus, you can actually brag to your friends about the Balvenie name here and pretend that you paid a lot for it, while actually not. Win/win. 4.25 stars, leaning close to 4.5. Good stuff. Cheers.

Oh peat week - you were the surprise thriller of 2018 scotches for me. But are you still THAT good? Nose - soft smoke billows off the glass, sweet smoke, candied smoke, and yet so clean. By contrast the 2004 "week of peat" is much more malt forward with perhaps a bit more wood. 2003 is all smoke, light mint, and all the sweetness is in background. Taste - Soft up front bringing in this light malt, so gently and subtle. Then the whisky turns and you feel the smoke building up, filling your mouth with just this very clean shall we say "Balvenie" like smoke. Peat Week has both the level of peat you'd expect from the big boys in Islay but yet does it in a such a way that it captures that quintessential lightness of a Balvenie malt. This experssion of peat week is soft, gentle, and it really doesn't let the malt stand out, it is there to enhance the smoke. If you compare it side by side to this year's the malt is much more pronounced, more assertive and seems to get in the way of the smoke. I have said since i first tried this, there's just no whisky more dangerous, even when pouring it I can't seem to get less than an oz in the glass (most reviews I do are on 1/4 oz and are whisky I have experienced prior). This is a scotch you can DRINK and I've had a few days where I did just that. I don't think I've bought more than 3 bottle of any scotch in the last 2 years and with the exception of Woodford Double Oaked any whisky. I bought 5 of these and this is the 5th bottle. I simply love this whisky. It seems odd giving a 14 year old whisky a score this high but 4.5 out of 5. I seriously considered this for my favorite whisky of 2018 and through half of the year I think it was the front runner. This is a perfect example of how balance can really push a whisky over the top. This very well might be my favorite peated single malt and that's even when considering Ardbeg 23 and 22.

A pleasantly deep honeyed color with an orange hue. Not much viscosity – thin and generally lacking legs. Orange juice, medicinal smoke, clover honey, watercress, raw barley, and a hint of mushroom. A clear sweetness that pulls things together. Nosing stays sharp regardless of how much you return to it, but definitely still pulls you back in. Some petrichor brings familiarity and comfort. Opens with sweetness building back into the orange juice, followed by bitter rind. Honestly getting sweet orange bitters (Fee Brothers?) before the underlying phenols blossom. A touch of cooked carrot and coriander, but generally a persistent, tangy sweetness. Bell pepper. A bit like burning grassland. Some playful floral notes and honey show themselves throughout. Honestly the freshly-cracked bottle started a little too sharp, but that settled out in pretty short order after a quarter of the bottle was gone. Can’t say this was explicitly worth $100, but it is a quality dram – well made and pretty tasty, and I'd say it is unique vs. Islay peat albeit in subtle ways. I know I won’t see this edition again, but I also won’t be afraid to take the plunge on future releases given what this one offered.

Have read many glowing reviews on this and found it at Specs for 70$ so went for it. Non chill filtered and 96.6 proof this stuff rocks! Poured neat the nose is wonderful. Salt cured bacon and smoke from an electrical short circuit are first to arise. Malt and seasoned wood follow along with vanilla frosting and cake batter. Soft mouthfeel leads palate of smoke, golden toasted marshmallows and salty malt with varnished oak. It is quite savory and the balance is excellent. Finish is bbq pit smoke with wood chips and drying malt with hints of roast coffee. The flavor is rich but falls off more quickly than I would prefer. Still this is complex and delicious so Im gonna try to put this guy away for limited use. If you like Islays (this is Speyside but more an Islay profile) get this you wont be sorry..........94/100........much more refined than the standard Lap/Ard and bottle seems to just get better longer its opened

I usually think Balvenie is overrated and not something i can commonly enjoy. I have read a lot about this "peat week" expressions they have, but i never had faith on it, since i also read a lot of good reviews on their other offerings, which i don't usually share. BUT THIS IS SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT. This 2003 vintage, 48.3%abv is an amazing dram, and deserves all the hype it gets. On the nose it has an amazing earthy peatiness, salt, iodine, old oranges, smoky and definitively feels more like a Highland Park than a Balvenie. On the palate it is powerful. All other Balvenies i have had are usually dull. But this one, pure power. Toffee, Inmediate wasabi bomb. SUPER SPICY. Red chilli peppers. Toffee and sweet on the second sip. Aftertaste is salty and ashy. Really something enjoyable. Overall, i give this dram a solid and fair 93 over 100. Great whisky really.