Ballantines Finest whisky was Jim Murray's No Age Statement Blend of the Year with a whopping 96 points! The critic seems to have a real penchant for the brand, awarding the 17 year old expression a similar score. Ballantines Finest is a great all-rounder - easy-going and very flavoursome. A classic blend.
Expressive, crisp barley sugars. Touch of wood smoke, toffee.
Rich and sweet. Barley and caramel, very gentle peat.
Soft and sweet, fudge.
Beyond criticism I should have thought. Then again, perhaps the practice of imbibing horse urine is not the best preparation for tasting whisky? Still, each to his own ......
horse piss taste better than this shit
Nose is a little over-alcoholic but fortunately doesn't taste that much. Sweet, mild, pleasantly aromatic on the palate if not complex. Clean aftertaste. Good for back-from-work refreshment.
Been drinking this for donkeys years, tried 100's of the others while travelling world and UK. Glenfiddich, Grouse etc, but always come back to mu favorite Ballantines, It does it for me and always will. Currently have 4 litres which I brought back from Spain.
I've only recently stopped being an unintending single malt snob so know even less about blends than I do about singles, however I think this is very ordinary. Unremarkable nose (except, perhaps, the caramel colouring?), peppery on the palate (OK, it's Scotch but this isn't the challenge of a childish nip pinched from dad's old fashioned blend when you he wasn't looking, this just feels a little rough) and in the finish there's the clunking colouring again (remember those bitter, caramel topped, creme-caramel desserts your mum used to make in a teacup?). I've yet to have an undrinkable dram but in my opinion this merits only a "Meh".
