Balvenie 15 Year Old
Heavy on the Citrus
0 179
Review by @Victor
- Nose20
- Taste20
- Finish20
- Balance19
- Overall79
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This review is from a bar sample and unfortunately I did not get the cask number for this "single barrel" product.
Nose: caramel, light lemon, light grape-wine flavour, mild to moderate intensity
Taste: intense grapefruit, lemon, sherry, and caramel give a strong palatal greeting together. This is the most citrus I have ever experienced in my mouth from a whisky. After a few seconds sherry wine flavour becomes rather strong. Alcohol is quite noticeable here, more so than I would expect at 47.8% ABV.
Finish: the grapefruit lasts long before finishing on sweet sherry, sour citrus, and a hint of chocolate.
Balance: this is a so-so combination of flavours here that is ok, but won't draw me back anytime soon. I gather that other single barrels of Balvenie 15 have had very different flavour profiles from this one. Many connosr reviewers don't like heavy citrus in their malts-- I can see why. The citrus demands the attention without giving much pleasure.
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A recent sample I had of the Balvenie 15 yo from a different single barrel than that from this review did not have any strong citrus character and was far more enjoyable to me than the sample used for this review. I also recently read a Balvenie tasting thread in which several reviewers tasted Balvenie 15 yo Single Barrel samples from 3 different barrels and found large flavour differences among the three. Apparently there is a lot of variability in the flavour profiles of these Balvenie 15 yo Single Barrel expressions. I found it interesting in that thread that all of the reviewers preferred the Balvenie 15 yo Single Barrels in general to both the Balvenie 12 yo Doublewood and the 12 yo Signature, citing stronger more robust flavours in the 15 yo.