Week two of #WhiskyAdvent and we’re starting in much the same vein as the first, with a truly fantastic Sherry matured Speysider and a perfect winter dram, from another distillery that’s rightly gained a reputation for producing some of the best Sherry matured whiskies available today. Behind the eighth window of The Whisky Advent Calendar by Drinks by the Dram is Balvenie’s fantastic Single Barrel Sherry Cask 15 Year Old.
Although ‘Single Barrel’, this 15 year old is a continuous release, with each bottle drawn from a single cask. This means that no more than 650 bottles of this whisky actually come from the exact same cask (whilst no two casks are identical, legendary Malt Master David Stewart selects those with the desired character). The potential outturn from each cask also points to something else – The Balvenie Single Barrel Sherry Cask isn’t really matured in a ‘barrel’ at all, but rather a big first fill European oak ex-Oloroso Sherry butt!
Balvenie – the 8th best-selling single malt in the world – on day number 8!
Tasting Note for The Balvenie 15 Year Old Single Barrel Sherry Cask:
Nose: Dense Christmas cake with icing, full of sticky, syrupy dried fruits, cherries, finely chopped nuts and grated nutmeg. Flamed orange peel, ginger, a hint of struck match (but only very subtle in the sample we tasted), fresh orange segments and plums develop.
Palate: Big old fashioned Sherry matured character, more bread-like fruitcake, malt loaf and nutty Oloroso. Slightly bitter and rum-like, superb.
Finish: Spicy fruitcake with cocoa.
Overall: Classic Sherry matured whisky, really top stuff.
The Balvenie 15 Year Old Single Barrel Sherry Cask – 70cl, 47.8%
The Chaps at Master of Malt
