Balvenie Single Barrel 15 Year

Balvenie is one distillery that has given me a lot of dissapointing experiences. And i know it is a favorite among some whisky enthusiasts and collectors, but i always find it excessively light and boring. Well, i got a sample from this famous expression to see if it can change my mind about this distillery. Beautiful reddish blood color, bottled at 47.8%abv. On the nose it is very appealing, specially as soon as you pour the dram. Red fruits, an incredible hazelnut note; nose is quite beautiful. Chocolate butter. A sawdust note hids in the back. It is like a sherry wood syrup if that exists. If i wouldn't know that this is a Balvenie, i would have guessed it was an Aberlour. A nice spiciness is present and citrus notes appear every 20 seconds. After a first sip a Hanuta / Nutella aroma appeared; the sawdust has intensified. Dark Chocolate. On the palate it has a sherry, winey flavor. Very spicy. It doesn't resemble any other light Balvenies that i often critiziced. The second sip was lighter, a little watery as most expressions from this distillery, but the pepper bomb that follows, covers it up to score some more points and hide the flaws. A third sip revealed how really light and watery it is. Drops the ball. Dim vanilla and sawdust. (I wrote this while holding the whisky in the palate). There is a nice spiciness on the Aftertaste. Sherriness is very well crafted in here. Some brown sugar notes and crazy dips. There is some salty finish that has breached through the sherry profile. Aftertaste kept some power after a few sips and manages to get decent points. Overall, this is one of the best Balvenies i have had, without been something special. The overload of sherriness here almost accomplished the mision of hiding how light and uninteresting this spirit is. My usual opinion on this distillery is that it is mostly watery and after a couple of sips of the first glass that opinion became a fact once more. Having said that, this ranks second amongst Balvenies that i haven't been totally dissapointed, (the other, actually very good one, is the peat week expression). My score for it is 87 over 100.

I haven't done one of these in a while. Not because I have not been drinking whisky but I have been exploring a lot of single cask IB which doesn't lend to reviews since each barrel is so idiosyncratic. I recently did a side-by-side tasting of this 15-year old Balvenie aged exclusively in ex-Sherry barrels alongside the 12-year old Balvenie aged exclusively in ex-Bourbon barrels. They provided a perfect contrast and example of the two styles and really accentuated what the two casks bring to the table. In the case of the 15-year ex-Sherry: This bottle is from cask# 8967 and even though a single-cask, it is not cask strength and is proofed down to a respectable 47.8% The nose was very fruity with hints of raisins and plum. The palate was sweet and spicy with figs, cinnamon and a hint of the honey Balvenie spirit coming through. Not a sherry bomb by any means. More subtle. The NCF and higher abv helps make this a much better than average dram. The finish was medium length with some baking spice and the characteristic Balvenie sweetness. The color was so dark and perfect that I thought it was colored but while I cannot be certain it appears to be natural color. The deep brown is a great contrast with the strong deep yellow of the 12-year ex-Bourbon. While this is definitely a cask-driven whisky the Balvenie distillate does have a characteristic that is there and takes well to the sherry cask: you still know it's a Balvenie. This is another really great example of a harmonious marriage of cask and spirit and Balvenie seems to really shine at this. This bottle and the the 12-year ex-Bourbon along with the Double wood (which is a mixture of both cask types) are the perfect examples of the Balvenie style to me. It is a sneaky whisky in that it doesn't have lots of complexity but it is very easy to drink and enjoy so I often overlook it.

I recently reviewed the Balvenie 17, which was an effort to complete the old core line following the recent discontinuation of some of the expressions. This is another one of those expressions. The 17 was well worth the purchase, so I’m hoping this one delivers as well. Nose: Plum, red grape, date, fig, and raisin. Classic Olorosso sherry notes. Cranberry, apple, orange, and apricot. Pound cake.Toffee, vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, and malt. Toasted almond and macadamia. Plenty of oak Creamy custard. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg add some spice. Palate: Cranberry, apple, orange citrus, and apricot. Plum, red grape, raisin, date, and fig. Very plush. Vanilla, caramel, toffee, and butterscotch hit heavy. Toasted almond and macadamia. It’s quite floral, and the orange is now accompanied by some melon. Finish: Apple, pear, apricot, and orange citrus. Plum, date, fig, raisin. Honey, caramel, vanilla, toffee, butterscotch. Cinnamon and white pepper. Custard on the way out. Plenty of oak. Moderate-to-long. Solid whisky. Very standard Balvenie, Speyside profile. The notes don’t really vary much from nose to palate to finish, but they’re about what I was looking for. The fact that it’s a bit too standard keeps this clean, quality malt from scoring above a 4.25, which is a respectable score as it is. I wish I had taken the opportunity to get one or two more of these before they got discontinued. Oh well. The 17 and the Peat Week releases still rate as my favorite Balvenie expressions, with this, and maybe the 12 Single Barrel, clocking in closely behind. Solid stuff, Balvenie, that overpriced 16 year better be earth-shattering if it means parting ways with this and the 17.

Stumbled upon a store with these still on the shelves and had a friend who wanted every bottle...so i grabbed 2 for myself and made the store owners a bit happy with the 7 total I left with. Nose - I get their classic vanilla and honey notes no the nose, there's light oak, bread, and I'm getting light notes of red fruits. These are all bourbon barrels but their malt is so sweet and fruity at times. I love it. Taste - Honey, complex vanilla pastries, oak. and the finish leaves me with some dark honey and oak tannins. A very nice complex take on what is an otherwise simple experience with bourbon barrels and classic Balvenie malt. 16 years old and bottled in 2012. These aren't yet endangered but they are getting pretty hard to find. I think I like the new sherry barrels better, but this is an awesome change of pace and really showcases the malt and it comes in at a much lower price than the 25 years and it's way better than the new 12 year. Edit, I'm upping the score to a 3.25, this is so good.

Tried this one with a buddy. We may have had a few drinks prior, but here’s what we came up with! Nose: Some dried fruit, mostly crisp/green apples, with maybe a bit of pear. Sweet clover, like a hay field, or clover honey. Taste: Honey and glazed apple early, with a leather and oak base. Dried fruit and peppery spice through the middle, which hits a bit quickly, keeping that oaky base. Fades into more pepper, and almost some vanilla with a burnt honey flavor. Finish: Lasts a while, but really mellows. Spice and honey and dried apples, still with some vanilla. Like the last breathe of an unexpected carnival. You’ll want to take another sip. Do not add water! Really. Not good with the water. We’d say neat only. Sincerely, Two drunk guys.

Nose- lemon, caramel, butterscotch, raisins, wood spice Palate- heavy sherry, raisins, dried fruits, cinnamon spice Finish- long finish with notes of sherry and spice Would love to find a first fill cask with a better color to do a true review, but this is the one that I had in front of me. Pretty basic sherried whisky. Nothing really stands out. Nose is good, but has more heat than I like in 46% whisky. Palate is pretty one dimensional with sherry flavors and spice. Just ok.