46°
Distillery : Balblair - Highlands
Ex-Bourbon Barrels and 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Butts Finish
Original Bottling
Limited Edition
Single Malt
Bottled in 2018
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured
Totally Unpeated
There was a time when all Balblair bottlings were vintage. It's not that long ago. Some were young, some old, some very old, like this one, which certainly totals 26 years, bottled on 13 February 2018. It spent 24 years in Bourbon casks, before a two-year finish in Oloroso Sherry Butts. It is not known how many bottles were produced.
Let's Taste It :
Intense, slightly charcoaled, coppery wood, powerful, slightly fermented, even candied fruits, morello cherries, berries of all kinds, blackberries and blackcurrants, raisins and dried apricots, banana. It's foresty, yet subtle, with undergrowth, humus and dark chocolate, cinnamon. On the palate, the fruits are more candied, peaches, mandarins, nectarines, quinces, crushed walnuts, hazelnuts. Intense spices. Rather violent finish despite the fairly low alcohol content, punchy but not aggressive, syrupy, fruit jellies, black tea, Christmas pudding.
In Short,
Nothing like the current expressions of Balblair, this one has much more character. It's fruity, but also coppery and spicy, with pudding at the end. It's really very good. And for this age, the release price was truly pleasant. That was 5 years ago. A lifetime ago. You can still find it today, but it's almost twice as expensive, so it's not really worth it any more.
Score : 89
To Be Listened While Sipping :
Melody Gardot - So We Meet Again My Heartache
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