Balmenach 11 Year Old 2010 The Whisky Mercenary & ‘t Parlement 10th Anniversary

The Whisky Mercenary – Belgian bottler – and 't Parlement – fantastic whisky café in Halle – both celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2022 and therefore decided to release a whisky together. Apologies: two whiskies! A Balmenach and an Ardmore. In my glass is the first, so of the joint bottling #1, being a young Balmenach that looks particularly pale. Paler than the average white wine, which surprises me a bit since it is a (albeit refill) sherry cask.

Candy-like sweet nose on cereal with kibbles of dried pineapple and banana, sweet malt and Granny cakes. Gooseberries and vanilla. Relatively well-behaved, but flawless.

Soft touch on white fruit and again pineapple and banana, supplemented with grapefruit and pomelo and with a powerful spicy edge like white pepper and nutmeg. Body is fine, though. And despite its relatively modest strength, it is certainly powerful enough in the mouth to please. Offers more than the nose announced, at least.

The finish could have been just a bit longer as far as I'm concerned but is quite enjoyable and gently seasoned.

Nice Speysider for a nice pub.

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