The Balvenie Rum Cask, 17 year old, 43%, $130
Rich and sweet, with toffee, coconut cream, Turkish delight, nougat and honey. Ripe black raspberry, citrus and dried spice (vanilla, fennel, and evergreen mint) provide complexity and attempt to balance all the sweetness. A pleasant dram, but I wish there was a little more there to prop up […]
The Balvenie Signature, Batch #1, 12 year old, 43%, $55
Good, straight-forward, moderately sherried Balvenie. Classic Balvenie honeyed notes combine with vanilla, ripe barley, glazed citrus, apricot marmalade, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A nice entry level Balvenie. It’s a solid whisky.
Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 83
This is one of three new Balvenie whiskies being released this fall, and it’s my favorite of the three. I’ll post my review of the other two over the next two days.
The Balvenie Vintage Cask, 1976 vintage, 53%, $800
Very spicy and complex, with incredible depth. Once again, this 30-plus year old whisky proves the aging ability […]
Some of the Willett Bourbons and Ryes have been outstanding. But they’re often very difficult to find. I spoke with Drew, my contact at Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (the bottlers of Willett) yesterday, and here’s a brief synopsis of what he told me regarding what’s available where (and contact information!):
John, we sent 96 bottles of our […]
Here’s my review of the new Birthday Bourbon. I was sent a review sample in advance. It is scheduled to be released in mid-October.
Old Forester Birthday Bourbon (2008 release), 47%, $40
A very hearty Birthday Bourbon. Richly textured with lush sweet notes of jammy berried fruit, coconut cream pie and apple crisp, married with firm dry notes […]
This posting is mainly for my U.S. audience. As it often goes with whisky and distribution, I was informed from my Moet contact that the new Glenmorangie Astar will be coming to the U.S. sometime in 2009 (no firm date set yet), but that the new Ardbeg Renaissance will not be imported to the U.S.
You […]
I’ve been sitting on this information for about a week now because I haven’t had time to post it. (I spent all last week writing an essay for a book I am co-authoring for charity, and then was in Toronto over the weekend for a friend’s wedding.)
Bruichladdich is coming out with two different whiskies from […]
Oban, 18 year old, 43%, $150
I really like this whisky. Drier, less toffee and fruit, more dried spice and oak when compared to the standard Oban 14 year old. A beautiful combination of rich, nutty toffee balanced by polished oak, salt, pepper, seaweed, distant smoke and dried fruit. Somewhat oily in texture. Wonderful depth too! […]
Here’s the bottle shot of the rye whiskey I blogged about on Friday. As you can see, it looks like it is designed to make rye look a little more “hip” than existing rye brands. It’s bottled at 46% ABV with no age statement.
I want to be clear that, while it IS a new offering […]
About a year or two ago, the “think tank” department of Jim Beam picked my brain on rye whiskey. I hope it helped, because I found out today that they are coming out with a new rye whiskey around October. I’m told that the product will be called: (ri)1
I’m heading out the door for the […]
