Balvenie 15 Year Old

This is another Balvenie mini, this time the 15 Year Old Single Barrel. Unfortunately, the tube offers no cask info whatsoever. It is non-chill-filtered and (presumably) cask strength at 50.4%.

The colour is a medium yellow. Extremely malty on the nose, with much less of the usual honey/caramel notes (loads of vanilla though). Lemon pith, green apple skins, chocolate-hazelnut. Quite floral. Banana skins. Coconut. A few drops of water brings out heather and peat. Quite bright and lively.

On the palate we get lemon-pepper, blanched almond and green banana. Quite mouth-drying. Some chili heat. Slightly peaty. Lots of citrus notes going on. Of course the honey is always present. Water brings a bit more balance, ripening the banana and delivering lemon curd. Some beautiful notes but not as harmonious as I would have liked.

The finish is pine, white pepper and toasted oak. This is a very different beast than the DoubleWood, likely due to the lack of a sherry cask. Although there is no cask info on the mini tube, I am sure this must be a bourbon cask. Makes for a very nice, lightly fruity dram but doesn't have the creaminess or the sherried oomph that the DoubleWood 43% has.

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