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Ballechin Port Cask Matured

Average score from 2 reviews and 4 ratings 89

Ballechin Port Cask Matured

Product details

  • Brand: Ballechin
  • Bottler: Distillery Bottling
  • Series: The Discovery Series
  • ABV: 46.0%
  • Bottled: 2008
  • Bottles: 6000

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@markjedi1
Ballechin Port Cask Matured

The third release of Ballechin, from 2008, is a 5 Year Old whisky. Ballechin is Edradour peated up to 50 ppm, matured on a whole plethora of cask types. Deze batch matured on port casks.

Boy, what a delicious nose! The peat translates into a slightly medicinal touch (think iodine), that is content with a supporting role. The leading role is clearly reserved for nuts and summer fruit. Think pineapple, oranges, Pink Lady, apricots on syrup. Some ginger and liquorice and, do not laugh, whipped cream. If it can maintain this complexity until the finish, we have a winner.

On the palate (which is quite creamy) the peat takes the reigns again, making the smoke pretty big, while underneath it is mostly apricots on syrup that rear their heads. Even reminds me a bit of eggnog. Well spiced on cinnamon, ginger and liquorice.

The smoky and sweet finish lasts wonderfully long.

Bingo! And Edradour, albeit the peaty version, that is really outstanding. Andrew, you know what to do, sir. More Ballechin please!

This is NAS, right? What's the source on it being five years old?

I recently opened mine (finally!) and my club tasted it alongside the Longrow RED Port. I think this earned more adherents than the Longrow did. (Both very good, mind you.)

P

This is my first review, so please excuse any short fallings! I do not have a good sense of smell, so I only tend to pick up the bolder notes in whiskies... because I do not mention deep complexities, please do not assume they are not there!

Nose: Sweet, floral, freshly mown grass. Whilst the peat is there, it is not nearly as over powering as you would expect from a dram that has this kind of phenloic content (not less than 50ppm)At first I did not realy detect any port notes in the nose, but given more time in the glass a light port note started to come out.

Taste: Starting off sweet, fruity, with the port taste well in evidence. The sweetness on the front of the tongue dies off to realy let the port come through, and then the peat starts to make an appearance, and just keeps on building. Starting as just a faint note, the peat builds untill the taste is of a genuine peat whisky, with the port and fruits hanging out in the background playing supporting roles.

Finish: Peat and smoke, with a hint of campfire ashes. As the peat starts to die back, the port notes come back to the fore briefly, but it is the peat that lingers longest. The finish is decent, but does not hang around for as long as it tends to for a lot of drams that are this heavily peated.

Overall: Something different to anything that I had tried before, beatuful to drink, and stunning for how well it transitions between its two main, and very different, notes. A whisky that I will not only enjoy myself, but will be excited to share with friends.

Excellent dram! Enjoyed every drop of it! Indeed, different from what I've tried before. The nose is magnificent and the taste kept rolling on the palate from peat to smoke to fruits and then back and so on)

Very nice review.

After trying this whisky I was quite suprised. I'm glad I got around to it. Hope to see what you have to think about your Laphroaig 18.

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