Distillery: The Balvenie Distillery
Proof: 95.6
Age: 15 Years
Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley
BACKGROUND: The Balvenie distillery is a unique Scottish distillery launched in 1892 by William Grant in Dufftown, Scotland. Grant learned how to distill after working at the Mortlach distillery 1866. In 1962, David Stewart began working for William Grant & Sons and in 1983, Malt Master Stewart experimented with maturing The Balvenie whisky in two different wood types which is started the practice of "finishing" whisky which is common today in many spirit types. The Balvenie was one of the first distilleries to release very old whisky in 1987 when they released a 50 year old whisky. An interesting fact about the Balvenie distillery is that the everything occurs at the distillery. They grow their own barley on their land, they maintain an old-school malting floor from a pre-industrialization age, employ a coppersmith to maintain the stills, and employs a cooper to make and maintain its own barrels and casks. This whisky is a 15 year old Single Malt scotch which is finished in European oak sherry casks for at least 15 years.
NOSE: Rich and sweet berry, cherry, plum, and grape dominate the nose. The wind really shines here with front malt and hay notes. Overall an incredibly sweet and fruity nose. (22/25)
PALATE: Smooth and creamy notes of cherry, plum, red wine, honey, and vanilla greet you with a nice chewiness and smoothness. This whiskey is nice and balanced going down with an ease and flavorfulness. There are also some rich oak flavors attributable to the age. (36/40)
FINISH: The finish is long and juicy with more dried fruit, oak, and leather. Overall, this was an incredible ending balancing the whiskey and wine finish. (22/25)
VALUE: With a $110 SRP this is slightly expensive but is well worth it for this delicious finished and aged scotch. (7/10)
Overall: 87/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Balvenie 15 Year Single Barrel Sherry Cask is an elegant scotch whisky with incredible flavors pulled from the wine cask balanced with tradition scotch whisky notes. We strongly recommend this is anyone who likes wine, sweet whisky, smooth whisky, or wine finished whiskey.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Revival
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Macallan 12 Year Sherry Cask
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Green Spot Chateaux Red Wine Finish
Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away