Ballantines Finest

I usually don't drink cheap blends, in afraid of what I brought would go to the toilet, but I found Ballatine's Finest seemed to be a better cheap blend among other big brands and Mr. Jim Murray gave it a 96 pts score, so I picked up a 200ml bottle in a convenience store and gave it a try.

The bottle has been opened for a week.

Nose: Milk chocolate, green apple, white pepper, ginger and some peanuts butter. Slightly smoky, quite expressive.

Palate: Soft and light, apparently very speysidey. Vanilla pudding, cereal, lime peel, orange candy and some cinnamon. Very little peat and smoke in the background.

Finish: Rather short, coffee, chocolate and mango.

Balance: Very smooth and no offs, but nothing special.

Ballatine's Finest has a lot in common with Ballantines 17yo, but sweeter and less peaty for the masses, and there are a lot more grain whiskies inside. Still not in the leagues of most entry-level malts, but would be useful for a college party anyway.

After the Ballantines 1965, 1985 and 2008 I will now try a more recent bottling. The label says this was bottled on the 16th February 2015.

The nose is soft and sweet with an unmistakable smoky edge. Mildly sweet and sour at first whiff, the nose evolves toward young, yellow apples and loads of heather. Some (I would almost say obligatory) vanilla and you can state that this is a flawless and enjoyable nose.

It is nicely oily and peaty from the start. Yes, on the palate, the peated whisky is clearly recognizable. I would say Laffie. The apples, along with the vanilla, have a hard time countering this to keep it accessible. Tasted blind, you might actually confuse this with a young Laphroaig. A little bit of pepper and some salt. Surprisingly peaty (and a lot more than I remember from the older bottlings).

Salty finish, but very short.

This is serious bang for your buck. Thanks, Pat.

Ballantines Finest. Produced in Dumbarton Scotland for Pernod Ricard. Their flavor profile is based off of a combination of 50 single malts and 4 single grains most notably Miltonduff and Glenburgie. Bought for an easy $20 as it was being phased off of the shelf at a college town liquor store.

40% ABV

Color: Light Gold

Nose: Immediately sweet with fresh white fruits (apples and pears) in a simple syrup, iced shortbread, barley malt, gently floral (non-specific), bits of toffee and more icing. Very sweet and expressive start.

Body: Medium legs moving at a slower pace. Rich overall.

Taste: Barley malt, caramel, fudge, red delicious apple slices, gentle forest notes in the form of forest floor. A bit of earthy peat.

Finish: Lingers a bit. Soft and very smooth. No discernible burn. Some malt, a bit of fudge, and a light dusting of wet earth and wood ash.

Overall: All of the place? Yes. It is also a blend. Enjoyable in that right? Yes. I like that it has a bit of everything there. Its fun that way. Not sure if Id score this a 96 (2014) by Mr. Murray but I couldn't complain if this was at a bar.

Some of you know how much I rave about Ballantine's 17 Year Old, so today, looking for a decent inexpensive Scotch to help me see the end of TIFF with, I picked up their standard expression. A couple of months ago I had some with my dad, and it was better than I had remembered from my younger days. So now I get the chance to review it. Apparently, Ballantine's is relatively hard to find in the UK (which is rather shocking to me), and is also blended with over 40 different malts and grains.

The colour is golden with yellow highlights. The nose is surprisingly complex - barley, lime, apple, vanila and the softest hint of smoke. Water brings out more grainy cereal notes, like grist.

In the mouth, creamy, floral, light but with continuing complexity. More vanilla, some oak and slightly spicy (cloves and nutmeg?) as well as sweet. That hint of smoke again. Even creamier on the palate with water, adding slight hints of milk chocolate.

The finish is rather short but not in a bad way - gentle and soft with that hint of smoke carrying through. I think this is much better than it gets credit for. There is more complexity here than one would expect from a standard blend, but it could definitely use a little more heft. It is very Speysidey (apparently, two Speyside malts that are used and Miltonduff and Glenburgie, which is Ballantine's spiritual home), but malts from all over Scotland are used. It is a little too light and floral for me to call it a big favourite, but it's complexity and drinkability are impressive. You can't go wrong with this.

I bought this bottle about 2 years ago and I have been sipping it along with various malts. At first I thought this was absolut crap. Still there was something about it (probably the minty feeling) and I kept on with it. My favourite (cheap) blend is the Ballantines 12 yo .. it deliveres a very harmonious blend of robust and smoky blend (Teachers is too unconsistant to be in the flock .. but if it were consistent, it would be highly regarded)). I always have this blend at hand .... Whilst having the time to think it through (with no snobbism intact) my mind tells me that this whisky is a very well crafted blend. As a Whisky man I must say that I secretly enjoy it .. I dont know what it is .. but I just admire this blend, the technique, Its marvellousy. I know it is cheap. I know there is alot of grain in there ... but - if there was a one grain blend I would take to the moon ........ this would be it.

The lightest of airy blends, with evident grains and a good balance, but I don't buy the comparison with Glenmorangie at all. For $5 less, I'll take a Clan MacGregor.

Nose: a little floral, chocolate-y with coffee, some lemon citrus, and some nutty flavours. There is also moderate smoke and peat, a little in the background. This really doesn't come together for me as a harmonious whole. A nice balance of sweet and dry, though.

Taste: this is sweeter in the mouth than in the nose. All of the flavours from the nose translate effectively onto the palate. These flavours just don't work well together for me, though.

Finish: the finish is long and becomes sweeter with time. Licorice becomes very prominent through the finish.

Balance: I really don't enjoy this whisky much at all. I had high hopes for it, and it is quite flavourful, but for me this just doesn't harmonise in a way that I enjoy.

I have tasted old Ballantines Finest before. Earlier this year I placed a 1985 against a 2008 bottle. Both were good. Today, I’m trying an even older bottling. This Ballentines Finest comes from a bottle of 1965! It was bottled at 43% ABV (the previous ones I tasted at 40% ABV).

The nose offers young apples, vanilla, heather and quite a bit of smoke. I presume there’s a little more Laphroaig in here than in more recent versions. Very pleasant.

Wow, even after all these years in the bottle, this is still a powerful whisky. Nice peppery attack. Vanilla and apples return with fresh flowers and quite smokey. Nicely balanced with sweetness on the one hand and a salty tang on the other.

The finish isn’t particularly long, with a salt ending.

This truly is a golden oldie, but more recent bottles are also worthy. It would seem the whole Ballantines range is not half bad.

This bottle was given to me as a gift from my mum, who managed to pick up a litre bottle fairly cheap on her way back from Spain. So I guess I shouldn't really complain about it!

It's got a very light gold colour, almost yellow in the light of my room! The smell is powerful, but not really in a great way. I picked up an almost antiseptic aroma, sterile and even bland. Now I'm not sure if it's just a bad bottle, because I went back to it a few days afterwards and got the same experience.

The taste wasnt spectacular, it didnt seem as though there was much going on, but it was very strong and powerful. There was a metallic feel to it, and the finish seemed sharp and very short.

In summary, I can't imagine a whisky like this is as decidedly average and disappointing as i've found it to be, so I hope I've just had a bad bottle, but I can only score it on what I've tasted! I wouldnt buy a bottle for myself, at least until I've tasted one that comes across as an improvement.

This is not to knock the Bally Finest, just to make you aware of the problems of writing a review with a rather smelly cat perched on my lap. Elvis, named originally because his missing tooth gave him a lip-curl reminiscent of the King, who's now going through his very own fat stage (sequins next?), does like to add his own, unique flavour notes to whatever I'm sampling.

So, evaluating a dram of Ballentine's Finest while attempting to filter out the smell of an over-excited fat cat is not the easiest of tasks, however nihil desperandum.

There's a bit of a fruity ester smell at the outset (not Elvis, I got that particular note from the Bally before fat boy joined me). I'm also getting a bit of smoke, but it's the same glass that held a measure of Laphroaig 10yo not 20 minutes ago, so maybe it's a cuckoo in the glass.

But no, it's there in the taste as well: a very subtle salty, smoky tang which gives this blend a bit of oomph. Next the vanilla kicks in and coats the side of the mouth. Finally, something almost floral at the back of the mouth.

Altogether a nicely complex blend which can be served alongside a well-matured moggie. The smoke complements the strong fishy smell (sardines? pilchards? hake?) and the vanilla stands its ground with that pervasive musky smell ... and I don't want to know where that comes from.

I'll save my good malts for when my cats are out on the razz and sup a damn fine blend like Bally's Finest when they're in a sociable, curl-up-on-the-lap mood. Slainté!

Nose, Taste, Finish and Balance are graded out of 2.5 each:

Nose: So creamy and citrusy, it's like smelling a lemon mousse, doused in pear liquor. Some faint spice in the air from the grain, but not at all dominant. 2.0

Taste: Very creamy and full bodied on the tongue. I've hear this blend be described as velvety and that's exactly what it is. Very juicy,smooth and chewy. A total pleasure to just hold in the mouth and savour. 2.5

Finish: Very smooth on exit, and just the right length. Maintains its creamy texture, while sweet vanillas elegantly give way to a mildly woody and spicy finish. Highly impressive and assured. 2.0

Balance: First of all I do like a good looking bottle, and this is certainly one of the 'finest'. There's something about a screw-cap as well that I also just love, so always enjoy opening a good scotch blend. But that's all superficial I know, it just endears me to the stuff before I've even tasted it. All that aside, I have to say that this is an extremely impressive blend. One can't really find a fault with it, it doesn't try to scream and shout, it just goes about it's business with total grace and authority. It's a truly sublime whisky. 2.5

I taste Ballantines Finet 4 years ago and I don't remember very well the flavour of this blend. Like the Glen grant (but it's a single malt) it's not a wonderful whisky. It's appropriate like digestive after dinner or like correction with ice cream, or with cocktail. I'll taste the older version before to make a several review to this brand.