Balvenie Peated Cask 17 YO
Balvenie Peated Cask 17 YO, 48,7 %
My husband has written about Balvenie Peated Cask 17 YO earlier, in Norwegian. Today you can read my tasting notes, in English.
This Balvenie was distilled in 1993 and bottled in August 2010. In total there were 6000 bottles.
Do you want to know how we came to get this peated Balvenie? Here is what the distillery says:
In 2001, a heavily peated batch of barley was distilled at The Balvenie Distillery and was allowed to mature until The Balvenie Malt Master, David Stewart, decided it was time to rejuvenate the maturation process and so the whisky was transferred to newly prepared traditional casks.
The casks that had originally held the peated liquid had taken on much of its character and so David decided to experiment by filling them with 17 year old Balvenie for a short period. The result was an intensely peaty whisky. Marrying this liquid with 17 year old Balvenie finished in new American oak casks produced The Balvenie Peated Cask, a complex single malt that is rich and spicy with layers of smokiness.
Nose (20/25): Fruity, but it is kind of a synthetic fruitiness like the one you find in a candy shop. It is quite woody and there is some spiciness. I definitely think the new oak has had some influence here. After a little while I detected orange peel. Then the most interesting element appeared, and with the help of a good friend I was able to define it: Dijon mustard. Soft smoke.
Taste (21/25): Soft and easy to drink. Quite delicate actually. A lot of mandarins and spices. Some smoke here as well, but not very dominating.
Finish (21/25): Woody and dryish in the first part of the finish. Then it turns light and soft, and mandarins join the party, before it all ends in a warm and dry finish. Actually there is a lot of orange peel here as well. The smoke comes through towards the end.
Balance (21/25): Quite a funny whisky, I would say. It was a little bit of this and a little bit of that all the way. I guess the new american oak casks are to "blame". Easy to drink, nothing fancy about it. It changed from a funny sweetness (almost perfume) to citrus and spices. Interesting. It actually reminds me of Balvenie New Wood, also 17 YO.
I tasted this whisky together with a whisky colleague, Roland Johansson at TasteNote. He had the 43 % edition. You can read his review on TasteNote.
Score (83/100)
- Tone