Review by: dustbunna
I bought this bottle overseas to celebrate my 30th birthday in 2019. When I ordered it, I was looking for something my age or from my birth year to mark the occasion, and even though this Balblair didn’t quite match up to either, I was super curious and the price was certainly right. This is the final release of the ‘91, from 2018– one of the last vintage statement releases from Balblair before they revamped their core range (and skyrocketed the price of the age-stated 25yr, putting anything age-comparable from the distillery wildly out of reach for me.) This was matured 24 years in refill ex-bourbon American oak and re-racked into ex-Oloroso sherry butts for a further three years. As a special-occasion whisky, I poured this a bit less frequently than my other bottles, which means it has lasted a fair bit longer than usual in my cabinet.
Distillery: Balblair.
Bottler: Distillery bottling.
Region: Highlands.
ABV: 46%.
Age: 27 years. Distilled in 1991. Bottled in 2018.
Cask type: Ex-bourbon followed by a second maturation in ex-Oloroso sherry butts.
Price: $164 USD.
Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 16 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point, italicized notes taken towards the heel.
Nose: quiet at first ~ after resting, though, there is massive honey, minerals, mixed fruit jam, bubblegum, shoe polish, Terry’s milk chocolate oranges, green pears and blossoms, minerals come forward, dried mango, gardenia, chocolate mousse, a few drops of water bring out spiced apple pie, aniseed, and cut grass.
Palate: full-bodied and oily ~ bitter arrival with more minerals, herbaceous and savory, allspice, pineapple, a bit of sour cherry candy, genmaicha tea and more honey replace some of the fruit and spice, rounds off really beautifully, water intensifies the minerals and the nuttiness of the genmaicha.
Finish: holy hell… long and warming, with intensity coming in multiple waves ~ oak, barley sugar, apples, many more herbs in the background, black breakfast tea, red berries, more honey, more minerals in the background, tea tannins come forward a bit, pepper, peach, some overripe fruity funk in the background, everything that has come before begins to meld together, it keeps evolving and changing for minutes after swallowing.
Conclusion: I collect my notes over many sessions in a notebook with 4”x6” pages for each whisky, and in the course of reviewing this one I filled every square inch on the page– it just kept evolving and revealing new dimensions. Balblair’s fruity distillate really shines aging near a quarter century in refill American oak, and the sherry maturation is seamlessly integrated here. What happened with a half-hour of rest in the glass feels like alchemy, going from good to great when the bottle was first opened, great to excellent halfway through, and excellent to phenomenal as it neared the quarter-full mark, where I decanted a few samples because this was some of the best Scotch I’ve ever tasted and I really did not want this bottle to end. Every time I sipped it, it patiently revealed far more depth than I expected. It’s a gentle giant of a whisky– complex, sweet and honeyed in its core but balanced by an embarrassment of rich tea, mineral, and herbal notes. The finish is the high point, with waves of flavor ebbing and flowing in constant motion.
This is my last review before 2021. I’m going to settle into a corner for the holidays with this nectar in hand and quietly wave goodbye to a disastrous year. Happy Holidays, everyone.
Final Score: 95.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 