Two young Balvenie, official and independent

May 20, 2013

Two young Balvenie, official and independent

It's always a joy to taste Balvenie because I think it's one of the easiest malts around, in a good way of course. Even when it's very old, or very young. Having said that, the regular Doublewood has always been the one that I found a little less convincing, but I last tried it in 2008 (WF 78). Time to try to revise my feelings...

Balvenie 12 yo 'DoubleWood' (40%, OB, +/-2012)

Colour: gold. Nose: well, it's a little too malty/coffeeish for my taste, it's a profile that needs more power in my experience or you get something cardboardy or even a little soapy. Having said that, some aspects are very pleasant, especially the touches of orange liqueur and the chocolate. As they say, the jury's still out. Mouth: light, easy, malty, chocolaty, raisiny... A little honey too. Balance is achieved, this time I think it's a pretty perfect 'access-category' malt whisky. Finish: not the longest but there's good body and I enjoy these dry raisins. Comments: the nose was frankly weak - but is it whisky to nose? - but I found the palate pretty impressive, fuller than before. Extremely sippable. SGP:441 - 80 points.

Burnside 1994/2012 (56.7%, Scott's Selection)

Please don't tell anyone, but Burnside is Balvenie. Colour: amber. Nose: what a strange one! It's a kind of metallic sherry, hard to describe. There's some coffee for sure but also a weird leather, some plastic (brand new Renault ;-)) and huge notes of aspirin. Like four tablets in 5cl of water. There's quite some meat too, beef jerky, ham, prunes... Not too sure what to think so far, we'll have to dig deeper. With water: rubber and raisins come out, classic but not too nice in my opinion. Mouth (neat): wham! Pencil shavings and coffee galore, plus some bitter herbs in the background. Huge bitterness, would make Jaegermeister taste like diluted rosewater in comparison. With water: okayish now, but there's an odd gingery side and the bitterness just wouldn't go away. Finish: very long, bitter and herbal. Green oak. Comments: I've had some excellent recent Scott's but this one just doesn't click on my nose and palate, so to speak. For adventurous whisky lovers only? The distillery is hard to detect. SGP:372 - 70 points.

Check the index of all Balvenie I've tasted so far