Balvenie 10 Year Old Founder's Reserve

Color: amber.

Nose: some classic Balvenie notes here -- apples, honey, and vanilla, some citrus -- but also something herbal, like Yerba Mate tea. And a kind of vegetable smell, like freshly cut green peppers.

Body: light and oily.

Palate: caramel, vanilla, and white chocolate over oranges and plums. There's just a tiny bit of smoke and pepper, and I still pick up the herbal and vegetable flavors.

Finish: warm but not particularly long. I'd say the herbal and vegetable flavors last the longest.

My father-in-law had a liter of this hidden in a cabinet for seven years and just brought it out. It had been so long since he had poured it, that cork crumbled in the bottle. After a long complicated process of filtering the whisky of the cork, we finally got around to tasting it. I can't promise that the flavors weren't affected by the deterioration of the cork or the filtering process, but we still really enjoyed this variety.

My father-in-law sent a dram home with me in a jar, and I did a blind taste test against the 17-year DoubleWood. There was no contest, but this one was still surprisingly satisfying for being a 10-year-old whisky. It really is too bad Balvenie stopped making this. I'd like to buy a fresh bottle.

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