Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 43%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Sherry
Chillfiltered: Yes
Added coloring: Yes
Owner: William Grant & Sons
Average price: € 90.00
Official website: www.thebalvenie.com
Homage to The Balvenie’s fourth (and longest-serving) master distiller, David C. Stewart, who was among the first to experiment with cask finishing for single malts, leading to the debut in 1983 of The Balvenie Classic, which from a classic maturation in ex-bourbon added a finishing in ex-sherry.
This bottling proposes the same recipe (recalling its name on the label), proposed only for the travel retail market from 2021.
If you want to know more about the story of this ‘revolution’, you will find it narrated by the protagonists on the distillery’s website.
Tasting Notes
Strong acidity on the nose, amidst currants, raspberries, gooseberries and wild strawberries, which over time dissolve into a carpet of peach, acacia honey and vanilla. In the background, spices (ginger, black pepper), marzipan, black tea, leavened bread, sultanas and aspects that betray the presence of very young elements, with pungent alcohol between hints of pear and wood. Immature.
Fairly oily on the palate, in which more pronounced spices (pepper, above all) return, with less marked acidity in favour of softer aspects of fruit (peach, apricot, apple), honey, candied orange peel and caramel. Nuts (almonds, macadamia), apricot jam, English trifle, vegetal notes between tobacco, black tea and rhubarb set the stage, with a slight woody inflection evident especially along the length.
Quite long and dry finish of spices (pepper, cinnamon), nuts, gooseberries, vanilla, vegetal notes and a slight bitter note.
Definitely better on the palate than the nose would predict, a young but not indelicate whisky, with some touch of elegance and smoothness but unpretentious.
Vote: 83/100